Ozzie Albies is back in the All-Star picture, and this time the moment hits a little different.
The Braves second baseman was named to his fourth All-Star team when Atlanta’s 2026 selections were announced just over a week ago, but this one carries extra weight. Albies said it’s the first time he’ll start the All-Star Game in his 10-year career, and after the road he’s taken to get here, that recognition landed hard.
“It’s one of the most exciting things you can get named for,” Albies said of earning his spot on the National League All-Star team. “It makes your whole year.
You work so hard since Day 1 in spring, the offseason, putting the work in. It’s nice to get the recognition that, hey, you’re an All-Star and you play your butt off every single day.”
Albies has been here before, of course. He was an All-Star in 2018, 2021 and 2023, and for a while he looked like one of baseball’s most dangerous offensive second basemen. He topped 65 extra-base hits four times, posted 30-plus homers and 100-plus RBIs in two seasons, and scored more than 100 runs three times.
But the last couple of years tested him. A fractured right wrist cost him more than two months in 2024 and helped drag down his start to that season. He found his rhythm later on, only to have a fractured hamate bone in his left hand end his year in late September.
Then came 2025, a rough season by his standards. Albies hit a career-low .240, finished with 16 homers and a .671 OPS in 157 games, and his defensive numbers dipped as well. That added up to a career-low 1.7 fWAR, a far cry from the steady force he’d been in Atlanta since debuting in 2017.
Still, the bigger picture tells you why this All-Star nod means so much. Albies has already battled through a bone bruise in his left wrist that cost him 31 games in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and in 2022 he missed 98 games because of a fractured foot and a fractured finger. So when he got the news this time, the emotion came fast.
“When they told me, I got tears in my eyes immediately,” Albies said of finding out he was an All-Star again. “Dealing with (injury) issues here and there in baseball, it’s part of the game.
But to come back and have a better season, it’s huge. It’s amazing.
Like I said, we work every single day. Each and every single one of us works our butt off every single day on this team.
That’s why it’s great when we get recognized like this.”
Braves manager Walt Weiss has seen that grind up close. Weiss, an Atlanta All-Star in 1998, said he has a special appreciation for players who get knocked down and claw their way back.
“I told Ozzie that I have a deeper level of respect for guys that get kicked down in this game, then fight their way back and get back to a high level,” Weiss said. “It’s not easy to do and he’s had to deal with injuries the last couple years and has worked hard to get back to where he’s at.
Now, he’s being recognized for it… It’s a credit to him, because that doesn’t just happen. It takes a lot of work and a lot of patience, but it’s great to see him playing the way he is.”
Weiss also made it clear before the season that he believed Albies could still be a major piece of the lineup, especially from the right side. He said he liked what he saw from Albies in spring training and wanted to put him in spots to maximize right-handed at-bats.
“I liked what I saw from Ozzie this spring, especially right-handed,” Weiss said as the season got underway. “For the majority of his career, he’s been one of the best hitters in baseball against left-handed pitching.
I know last year was a bit of an outlier. He got off to a slow start like a lot of our guys did, but I still believe in the guy, especially right-handed.
I think he’s a beast. So, part of the lineup construction is going to be putting him in a position to get as many right-handed at-bats as possible.”
That approach has paid off. Albies has a .798 OPS in 172 plate appearances against left-handers this season, with 19 extra-base hits and six of his 14 home runs coming off southpaws. A year ago, he managed only a .708 OPS and four homers against lefties in 186 plate appearances.
The overall numbers have followed suit. Albies went into the break hitting .267/.320/.439 with 21 doubles, 14 homers, 51 RBIs and 61 runs scored in 95 games.
And for the fans who voted him into the starting lineup, Albies made sure to say thanks.
“I want to say thank you to the fans,” Albies said. “They’re cheering us on in every moment.
Even when we’re down, they’re still cheering for us. It’s gets us hyped, especially coming to the plate in big moments and you listen to your name get chanted out there.
It helps you out to even have a better at-bat. We’ve all been there.
I want to tell them thank you for voting for us, supporting us, and coming to give us all the energy we need every single day. It makes the game better.”
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