2019 Atlanta Braves

[tonybologna]

Quote: Originally Posted by LowerWolf

I hate that we’re letting Donaldson dictate he bat second. He needs to bat cleanup behind Freddie. Him batting second throws the whole lineup off, IMHO. I want Acuna batting leadoff. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Acuna Ozzie Freddie Donaldson Markakis Flowers Ender Swanson

I too said that Donaldson doesn't or shouldn't be batting 2nd in our order. I personally think 5th or 6th is the spot for him. Swapping Markasis for Donaldson seems better to me. He doesn't hit for high enough average these days to be up that high in the batting order. He can still get plenty of AB's plus RBI opportunities batting 5th or 6th.

Julio tabbed as our Opening Day starter: https://www.mlb.com/braves/news/juli...day-for-braves

[KSUowls]

Well it's official. Acuna will hit cleanup to start the year. I'm happy that he was moved down some to give him more RBI opportunities, he had almost as many XBH as RBI which was a problem. This really doesn't seem like the best use of resources though. Now opposing pitchers might not have to face him until the 2nd inning, and you lose all of his speed bonus from guys hitting behind him who aren't going to drive as many gaps.

I don't care that Donaldson wants to hit 2nd. Even if he returns to his 2017 self, sure he will be one of the 3 best hitters on the team so you want him batting towards the top, but there are better options to hit 2nd.

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[tonybologna]

Quote: Originally Posted by KSUowls

Well it's official. Acuna will hit cleanup to start the year. I'm happy that he was moved down some to give him more RBI opportunities, he had almost as many XBH as RBI which was a problem. This really doesn't seem like the best use of resources though. Now opposing pitchers might not have to face him until the 2nd inning, and you lose all of his speed bonus from guys hitting behind him who aren't going to drive as many gaps. I don't care that Donaldson wants to hit 2nd. Even if he returns to his 2017 self, sure he will be one of the 3 best hitters on the team so you want him batting towards the top, but there are better options to hit 2nd. Sent from my S10 using Operation Sports mobile app

I'm in agreement with you on Acuna. He should be moved down in the order to allow him more RBI chances. He's certainly not a true leadoff hitter. What I think the Braves are saying is "If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It". I like that saying as well for lots of things but in this case I think it's taking away Acuna's chances at providing us more runs.

On a side note: Fried had a solid outing today with 5 IP, 5 Hits, 0 ER, & 7 K's. Here's some rumors/chat from a couple of sources on the rotation for Opening Day. There is one report that we have shutdown Soroka until at least late April/early May. I can understand why because of his injury last season.

Braves management are trying to play the Folty situation off like it's nothing & he will only miss 1 start. I don't believe that one bit. I think he's going to miss at least 3-5 starts if not more. I believe he has a more serious arm injury than what's being told. We just might not have him for 1/2 the season or possibly longer if there's a Tommy John situation going on here.

Gausman is also said to either be ready for his 1st go around in the rotation. I also don't believe that one single bit. I think he will miss at least 1-2 starts. I don't think his injury situation is as bad/serious as Folty's.

Minter's injury is also more serious than what's being reported. Vizcaino has been lights out all spring training so as long as he can stay healthy then we will use him as our closer & let 2-3 bullpen guys(Winkler, Carle, & Biddle or Venters) be our setup pitchers in a mixed/rotating basis. Once/If Minter is able to pitch then he will go back to being our setup guy.

With Folty, Gausman, & Soroka injured & not being in the rotation to start the season that opens up 3 spots. Teheran & Newcomb were already penciled in as starters so this will make it interesting to see if Kyle Wright now makes the rotation.

I really don't see how we can't make him the 5th starter with the way he's pitched this spring. He has options so once one of the injured SP's becomes healthy enough to pitch then I see no reason to send him down to AAA Gwinnett to start the season.

Here's how I see the rotation for Opening Day now:

Teheran
Newcomb
Touki
Fried
Wright

The only other SP that should come into play for possibly making the Opening Day rotation is Bryse Wilson. He pitched well his 1st 2-3 outings but has been hit hard his last 2 starts.

This is why I think we just have to give Wright that 5th spot. He's pitched well in every start. Only 1 start he's given up a couple of runs. The rest he's basically been unhittable with 10.2K/9IP ratio.

[tonybologna]

Here's my choices for the Opening Day 25-Man roster: (taking into effect injured players)

Starting Pitchers (5)

Julio Teheran
Sean Newcomb
Max Fried
Kyle Wright
Touki Toussaint

Long Relief (2)

Wes Parsons
Bryse Wilson (starter if needed)

Relief Pitchers (6)

Shane Carle
Jesse Biddle
Sam Freeman
Chad Sobotka
Johnny Venters
Arodys Vizcaino (CL)

Infielders (6)

Freddie Freeman
Ozzie Albies
Dansby Swanson
Josh Donaldson
Johan Camargo
Charlie Culberson (Utility)

Catchers (2)

Tyler Flowers
Brian McCann

Outfielders (4)

Ronald Acuna Jr.
Ender Inciarte
Nick Markasis
Adam Duvall or Matt Joyce

Once any of the injured SP's are able to come back then it's going to be interesting to see how the coaching staff & Braves management handles these situations. Wright deserves to be in the rotation but once Folty, Gausman, or Soroka is ready to pitch then I don't see how Wright would stay in the rotation unless we move Touki and/or Fried to the bullpen.

I think this would depend on how the initial 5 SP's are doing would be my guess. It's good that we will have choices/options whenever that times comes around. I said before all the pitching injuries that Touki would possibly be better suited in the bullpen but he has to be in the rotation to begin the season with the pitching injuries.

[TheMatrix31]

Acuna will be batting leadoff soon enough anyway.

Not sure why they'd want to change what worked so amazing and what struck fear in opposing pitchers right off the bat.

Maybe they think Inciarte will bounce back?

[SidBream]

Sorry but I’m going to pick apart you post. Sure, in MLBTS you can make dreams come true, but most of your lineup wishes just don’t make sense in the real world.

Quote: Originally Posted by tonybologna

In my opinion, Albies is the perfect guy for leadoff. He can hit for enough average, has some power, draws some BB's/works the count, & can steal some bases.

His OBP last season was .305 and his walk rate was like 5%. Not even close to a perfect leadoff guy.

Quote: Originally Posted by tonybologna

MLB.com has Acuna projected at cleanup but I see him batting 3rd most of the season just ahead of Freeman. I think that's the best way to protect Freeman but we could also do this in reverse & bat Freeman 3rd & Acuna 4th to protect Acuna.

You’re confused. The 4th batter protects the 3rd. Not the other way around.

Quote: Originally Posted by tonybologna

I would also swap Donaldson & Markasis in the batting order as well. Donaldson down to 5th & Markasis up to 2nd. Markasis hits for a better average than Donaldson. Albies like I said would be my leadoff hitter with Inciarte swapping with Albies & batting 7th. I think Flowers & Swanson are the 2 batters in the lineup that are placed in the right position in the order @ 6th & 8th.

It’s fairly widely accepted that your best hitters should hit 1 and 2, with the higher OBP at 1 and the higher Slug at 2. So taking OPS into account, that’s probably Acuna leading off and Donaldson hitting second, assuming they are both healthy and performing.

Markakis actually makes some sense at 5 in our lineup, as that is the position that comes up with the second most runners on base (behind the 2 spot). Walks don’t drive runners in, hits do. Markakis does hit for average.

Quote: Originally Posted by tonybologna

Acuna has said numerous times that he wants to continue to bat leadoff... I just don't see Inciarte hitting leadoff unless we start him off there for Opening Day & he hits well early on for the 1st few games.

This makes sense. Acuna should hit leadoff. Inciarte is only leading off because Snit is old school and Ender is tiny and plays CF. IF Ender can start the season well, it would lengthen the lineup to hit him leadoff. But unless he hits over .300 every month, he doesn’t get on base enough because he doesn’t walk enough. Also, if you look at his 1st half 2nd half splits, it’s crazy how much better he is in the 2nd half.

Quote: Originally Posted by tonybologna

I do see why we would want to move Acuna down in the lineup though to give him more chances for RBI's & also protect Freddie from being pitched around a lot.

Right. IF Albies can learn to walk and still hit like he did last April, he can hit leadoff and Acuna drops to 4, protecting Freeman and getting plenty of RBI opportunities. He also flies on the basepaths which goes well with the single hitting Markakis behind him at 5.


2019

1. Acuna
2. JD
3. Freddie
4. Markakis
5. Albies
6. Flowers
7. Inciarte
8. Swanson

I’d love to see Ender or Albies take a step toward becoming a true leadoff hitter but they both need to walk and/or hit more and be more consistent from start to finish of season.

What people are forgetting is that Camargo will get 400+ PA. He’s might be the 4th best hitter on the team. That could change things.









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[KSUowls]

While I agree that ozzie needs to earn the lead off role, I'm going to defend Tony's comments a bit.

Ozzie batting leadoff isn't a perfect fit, but his skill set is good for that role (though again he does need to improve that walk rate). He's really fast, and he has shown a pretty good ability to get on base at times (his OBP was .354 in more than 200 at bats in 2017). You also have to take into account this team lacks a true leadoff guy. Inciarte is the closest if he can return to pre 2018 levels where he had back to back .350 obp seasons and .340 before that (I'd argue there is reason to be optimistic given his overall career and how he finished the year july through september).

In regards to Acuna protecting Freddie by hitting in front of him, that is also not a crazy idea. You're right that generally a batter is protected by who hits behind him, but there are 2 things that can pseudo protect someone lower in the order. Getting on base and speed (2 things that acuna fits better than anyone on the team). Any time a runner is on the pitcher is going to have to be more careful with the batter, and if that runner also has speed then that increases the likelihood of Freddie getting a fastball. The caveat is that Freddie is only protected when Acuna is on base whereas he's protected every at bat when acuna hits behind him, but it can go both ways.

Finally, I understand the if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality of Acuna hitting leadoff, but I do question it being the most efficient spot for him. It's certainly not a bad place to get maybe your best hitter the most at bats possible, and obviously it had good results last year. However, imo they could have been even better. Acuna had just 64 RBI last year despite 26 home runs 56 extra base hits in total because he had the pitcher and low offense guys like Dansby hitting in front of him. He fell just shy of the number of at bats required to qualify, but he would have been tied for 8th in the MLB for slugging at .552. For comparison if you break it down to atbats per RBI to account for his fewer games he still ends up needing almost 2 full additional at bats per RBI compared to others with similar slugging. Just using that basic math he could have been pushing 90 RBI last year in the same number of games if he had similar opportunities as the other guys I mentioned.

Imo the perfect spot for him is 2nd. Give him slightly more rbi opportunities with a real hitter in front of him and give the 2 guys hitting behind him an opportunity to take advantage of his speed.

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[KSUowls]

Man I'm concerned about newcomb. He had 10 walks in 12 innings heading into today and he's added 5 more today. You don't want to dig too deep into ST stats, but it's a continunation of his problem.

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