Orlando Arcia continues to hit sixth
At this point, you probably could’ve seen this lineup coming:
Braves Lineup 4/28 vs Guardians
1. Acuña RF
2. Albies 2B
3. Riley 3B
4. Olson 1B
5. Ozuna DH
6. Arcia SS
7. Harris CF
8. Kelenic LF
9. Tromp CBryce Elder, RHP
— Kris Willis (@Kris_Willis) April 28, 2024
Chadwick Tromp gets the start at catcher, given ye olde “day game after a night game” situation; he also got a plate appearance last night after Luke Williams pinch-ran for Travis d’Arnaud, and it was a pretty horrible one, so hopefully things go better today. It’s still weird that Orlando Arcia is hitting sixth, given that he literally has the worst xwOBA of any regular or platoon guy on the team, and his presence puts two righties in a row in the middle of the order and forces two lefties in a row after that, but here we are.
Among this lineup, only Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna, and Matt Olson have ever faced Lively, and all of those matchups came back in 2017. Albies had a single, strikeout, and hit by pitch against him, while Ozuna had two singles and a flyout. Meanwhile, Olson has faced him in just one PA, that ended in him scooping a curveball for a line drive homer to right.
Meanwhile, Cleveland will deploy this lineup against Bryce Elder:
Six of these guys (everyone but David Fry, Tyler Freeman, and Brayan Rocchio) faced Elder last July in that strange game where he had a 1/2 K/BB ratio but lasted 6 2⁄3 with only two runs charged. Kwan had three hits in four PAs in that game while both Josh Naylor and Jose Ramirez worked walks.