Top prospect Ozzie Albies will be returning to his old stomping grounds in Pearl, Mississippi today, as part of the next phase of the development of the Braves' presumable future star tandem featuring him and Dansby Swanson.
Ozzie Albies will return to Double-A Mississippi today. The Braves want Albies and Swanson to begin playing together.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 30, 2016
Albies has not put up his usual impressive line as a member of the AAA Gwinnett lineup so far, and Swanson struggled a bit in AA but seems to be coming around. In any case, this move, combined with Albies' earlier move to second, represents the next phase in the plan to develop the two youngsters together and get them comfortable as a double play combination before they eventually make their debuts in the major leagues.
Albies hit just .248/.307/.351 in AAA, but was notably young for the league (he's still a teenager, technically!). He tore up AA earlier this year before his promotion, with a .369/.442/.512 effort. While, in an ideal world, Swanson would also be tearing up AA and earning a promotion to AAA to pair with Albies, prospect development is rarely such a smooth ride. We'll see what happens when two are playing together in Pearl.