Ozzie Albies moves to fifth, both catchers in lineup again

With Ozzie Albies heating up, he has been moved up to fifth in the order

The Atlanta Braves will be taking on the San Francisco Giants in a three-game series hoping to get a win streak going.

For the first part of the season, the Braves had a strong rotation and a poor offense. Since the start of July, it has somewhat flipped. Of course, the Braves have gone through the ringer with rotation injuries.

Prior to July, only six teams had scored fewer runs than the Braves. Since the start of July the Braves’ offense has increased to being ranked right in the middle of MLB in terms of runs scored at fifteenth. If we look at wRC+, the Braves had a 97 (3.0 percent below league average) before July and since then has had a 107. In terms of fWAR the Braves are tied for eighth in the timeframe from their position players.

Today, the Braves selected Sandy León, which shows that the Braves are likely committed to having both Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy in the lineup.

Marcell Ozuna’s hip issue has not been an ideal situation for his Braves tenure to end. Not only is he not a serviceable option for the Braves this season, it also hurts his trade value. The Braves do not have much trade leverage at all.

With Ozzie Albies heating up, he has been moved up to fifth in the order. It is interesting because typically this has happened when Albies will be facing a LHP starter.

Although the Braves did face the Giants’ starter Hayden Birdsong this season, no player on the roster has more than four ABs against him in their career. Michael Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. each have a hit against Birdsong in their limited two ABs sample. Sean Murphy has four ABs against him with a HR. Birdsong has given up twenty-one walks and twenty-five hits in his past six starts, so the Braves should look to take advantage of his Birdsong’s control issues.

Bryce Elder has struggled mightily as of late with a 9.67 ERA and 7.39 FIP since June seventh where he had the best start of his career. Willy Adames has been struggling this season but has not struggled against Elder with two HRs and a 1.055 OPS in thirteen ABs. Since no other player on the Giants has seen him more than five ABs, it could potentially work to Elder’s advantage. The idea that small sample sizes could be a good sign is obviously not exact science though and has shown to have the opposite result as well.

The Giants have their core lineup in the heart of the lineup, but will go with Flores, Schmitt, and Baily today. In their last game they started Smith, Wisely, and Knizer respectively in those positions.

First pitch is at 7:15 EDT