The San Diego Padres’ batting lineup is full of big names and heavy hitters.
From MVP candidates in third baseman Manny Machado and outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. to batting average merchant Luis Arraez to rising young stars like Jackson Merrill, it’s no surprise that the Padres are consistently ranked as one of the best offenses in the major leagues.
But in a recent trade proposal, the Padres could be acquiring a massive addition to their lineup at the designated hitter slot.
Enter Atlanta Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna.
Ozuna is fresh off of a monstrous 2024 campaign that saw him swat 39 home runs with 104 runs batted in, resulting in a 4th-place finish in MVP voting behind winner Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor, and Ketel Marte.
As the standings sit as of July 1, the Padres currently sit 7.5 games behind their rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, a full game out of the NL Wild Card should the playoffs start at this moment in time.
Adding Ozuna to the lineup that already features the elite talent listed above could easily give the Padres the edge they need to combat with their rivals for supremacy of the NL West.
And with Ozuna’s Braves struggling mightily compared to previous years, a trade shipping the slugger out from Atlanta seems all the more likely.
The Braves are currently sitting third in the NL East with a 38-45 record, despite housing the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner in Chris Sale and a former NL MVP in Ronald Acuna Jr.,
Debuting for the Miami Marlins in 2013, Ozuna saw a breakout in 2017, winning a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, spending two seasons there before joining the Braves in 2019.
