When will Ozzie Albies return to the Braves lineup this season?

The Atlanta Braves are perhaps the hottest team in baseball. Winners of 12 consecutive games, the reigning World Series champions have put themselves right back into the thick of the National League East race. However, they will have to forge ahead for at least two months without star second baseman Ozzie Albies.

Albies went down in a heap during Monday’s game against the Nationals as he tried to run out of the batter’s box.

Later that night, the team announced that Albies had suffered a fractured left foot. On Tuesday, the Braves placed him on the 60-day injured list.

That means we won’t see the exciting 25-year-old until mid-August at the absolute earliest. It’s a terrible loss for the Braves as Albies is one of their leaders on the field and in the clubhouse. But considering that they won a World Series last year basically without Ronald Acuna Jr. for the entire second half of 2021, perhaps no team is better equipped to handle such a loss.

For now, Atlanta will primarily use Orlando Arcia to fill Albies’ shoes. Although he’s come up with some big hits in a small sample size this season, Arcia isn’t really a fantasy commodity since he has never proven to be a league-average producer at the plate over any extended stretch.

Fortunately for fantasy managers, there are a handful of decent replacement options likely available in most leagues. The Blue Jays’ Santiago Espinal (55 percent available) has proven that his success this season is not a fluke. The Marlins’ Jon Berti (95 percent) has improved as a hitter recently and become a wellspring for those looking to add more steals. The Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan (90 percent) has a 150 OPS+ through 116 at-bats entering Tuesday. So, while losing Albies is a pain, there are worthwhile backup options out there.