VENICE, Florida, USA (AP) — Marcell Ozuna rejoined the ranks of the Atlanta Braves this week and said he apologized to his teammates for his arrest last year for an episode of domestic violence.
Police officers witnessed Ozuna mistreating his wife and the gardener was charged with aggravated assault, including assault on his wife with his hands on her neck and hitting her with a cast of his hand.
Ozuna was not with his teammates since his arrest on May 29 last year and was not part of the campaign that ended with the Braves' conquest of the World Series.
The major leagues retroactively suspended him for 20 games in November, allowing him to return for the start of the 2022 season.
“Yes, I talked to the team,” Ozuna said on Monday, when training began with the full team. “I talked to my colleagues and told them I was sorry. That I was wrong.”
Ozuna was well received in the clubhouse and several Latin American players gathered in his locker before the start of practice, as in the old days.
“It's good to have him back,” said Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr. “He's a great player. What happened to him outside the field are things that can happen to anyone.”
Videos captured on police cameras and obtained by TMZ Sports two days after the announcement of his suspension seem to indicate that Ozuna took his wife by the neck when the officers arrived at his home in Georgia. Sandy Springs police said in a May statement that they also saw Ozuna push his wife against a wall and hit her with the plaster from her injured left hand.
Ozuna said he completed all the requirements of a program that was set by the Fulton County Prosecutor's Office as a condition for dropping the charges. The program included three to six months of supervision, the order to undergo 24 weeks of a program to prevent family violence, at least 200 hours of community services, and a class on temperament management.
“I learned everything,” he said. “How to treat a person, how to be a better person, the best parent, how to be a human being.”
He added that he believed that he had never spent time alone with his three children before the incident and that he took them to the park and toy stores.
“I spent time with my children, that's the most important thing,” he said. “The family comes first. It's the only thing I care about right now, my family and coming here, working hard, being honest with my peers. That is the most important thing,” he insisted.
The Dominican said he hoped the public would forgive him. “I'm going to give my fans my best. I'm going to be a better person. I am very sorry” about what happened, he said.
When asked what he would say to people who have been victims of domestic violence, he replied: “I would tell them to treat me like the person I was, I was a great person off the playing field. I want to be that.”
The suspension cost him $1.55 million of his 12 million salary last year. He's now in the second year of a $65 million four-year contract with the Braves.
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Jake Seiner is at https://twitter.com/Jake_Seiner