Opening Day: What the Atlanta Braves Lineup Could Be

With Opening Day less than a week away, and the dust settling in the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues, it’s always fun to speculate and play the role of manager; let’s explore how the Atlanta Braves lineup could shape up.

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Obviously, with Melvin Upton, Jr.’s injury, we know Atlanta needs a lead-off hitter. Eric Young, Jr. has proven more than capable of filling that role in my opinion. His ability to put the ball in play coupled with his speed, makes him the only logical candidate. It helps that he can actually lay down a bunt too, something the Braves struggled with on more than one occasion last year.

Jace Peterson, I think, is the perfect number two hitter in the lineup, and he has certainly shown what he can do in plenty of Spring Training action this year in Florida.

Now some of you will look at this and say to yourselves, now why on earth would you have Nick Markakis hitting 3rd over Freddie Freeman? Well, the easy answer is because I think Markakis fits better in the 3 hole as opposed to dropping below the number 5 spot in the lineup. Markakis spent his time in Baltimore at the 1 or 2 spots the majority of the time. Yes, I understand that was a different lineup with a different dynamic. However, If you move Freeman up to the 3rd spot (because, typically, that is where you want your best hitter overall) you have to move Markakis out at 3.

We know Markakis is not a cleanup hitter, that’s probably a spot best suited for Gomes if this happens. Therefore, you are moving a consistent, productive hitter from the top third of your lineup, to the middle third. His production could potentially take a hit at that spot. I get that producing in a certain lineup spot hinges on the ability to produce by the others in the same lineup. So yes, you want the consistency at the top spots where your chances of getting men on are higher, which enhances the teams possibility at manufacturing runs early in the game.

Hindsight’s always 20/20, but any baseball writer or observer of the sport knows that predicting baseball is about as accurate of an art form as throwing darts at a target 50 yards away.

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Having Jonny Gomes in the 4 spot almost seems a stretch, but I wouldn’t put it past Gonzalez to at least toy with the idea throughout the season. I honestly see Freeman as the anchor to the lineup and sitting comfortably in the cleanup spot.

With the addition of Kevin Seitzer as hitting coach, Chris Johnson and Andrelton Simmons have seen nice results this spring. Let’s hope they can maintain this into the start of the regular season.

Christian Bethancourt is the unknown in this lineup. We just didn’t see enough of him last year to get a true sense of his ability. 2015 will be chance for him to prove he deserves the starting job behind the dish and the recognition he has received to this point.

Looking at this lineup, I don’t think it’s too far off and could be a possibility. You could probably flip-flop a couple of these guys and not really miss much of a beat, but none of us are Fredi Gonzalez, even though sometimes we may think we should be. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what he has in store come April 6th, 2015.

Until then, enjoy the last Grapefruit League game on Saturday, it won’t be long before the Braves open up at Turner Field, and if the stars align, it will be with a ‘W’!

Here’s what I think the Braves go with come opening day.

CF – Eric Young Jr.

2B – Jace Peterson

RF – Nick Markakis

1B – Freddie Freeman

3B – Chris Johnson

LF – Jonny Gomes

SS – Andrelton Simmons

C- Christian Bethancourt

P – Julio Teheran

So let’s hear it Braves Country, what’s your opening day lineup look like?

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Opening Day 2015: What Will the Atlanta Braves Lineup Look Like?

By Dan Horton | Apr 4, 2015

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