With Ozzie Albies on the IL, we have a new look Braves lineup
As the Atlanta Braves face the Astros this afternoon, they will continue to be without their starting second baseman Ozzie Albies.
Not only does this leave a hole in the position itself, but it is also significant in terms of the lineup. Albies has been a steady force as the second hitter. Now that he is injured there are some serious shoes to fill.
In today’s lineup, yesterday’s surprise hero, Luis Guillorme will be staying at second base base batting ninth. As far as the second spot in the lineup, Harris will continue batting second. This makes sense because against RHP starters last season he hit .305/.346/.500 against them. In terms of OPS+ that is 30.0 percent better than league average. If he can keep that up this year, a strong argument could be made that he should stick to batting second against RHP (and only RHP) even when Ozzie comes back.
Orlando Arcia is back in Harris’ old spot in the lineup batting sixth. Travis d’Arnaud is back in the lineup after he took a day off.
Series finale!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/3QqZgQnmwt
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 17, 2024
The only player in today’s lineup who has faced J.P. France (Houston’s starter) is Jarred Kelenic. He has one at bat in which he has a .000 batting average and one walk.
It will be interesting to see how the Braves’ lineup handle this pitcher that they have largely not faced before. France had an expected ERA (xERA) of 4.86 last year in 136.1 innings, and his ERA so far this year is 8.11. His xERA so far this year has been right at 5.00
As far as the Astros lineup goes, somehow no hitter has more than six at bats against Fried in the regular season.
Jose Altuve, who has easily been the Astros’ hottest hitter, has never faced Fried. Jose Abreu has a .333 average against Fried in six at bats, and Kyle Tucker has a .500 average with a 1.167 OPS in two at bats.
First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports Southeast.