Camp Chop: Braves hitters may be writing their own lineup card

If this ends up being the biggest controversy of the Spring, then all’s well for the Braves at Disney World.

That didn’t take long.  It was only about 3 weeks ago that we got a hint to the direction that Atlanta Braves‘ manager Brian Snitker was leaning for his lineup this year.  While we and others have dissected that a bit in recent days, here’s how that was laid out to us:

Dave O’Brien added that this idea was ‘Not set in stone’, but Gabe Burns then noted that once set, Snitker said that he wouldn’t be ‘tinkering’ with things until after the All-Star Break.

But most of the ‘hitters’ are already in camp now – though not ‘due’ until this coming Thursday – and there’s some idle time in between BP sessions.

So not to leave well enough alone, the beat writers are doing their thing:  asking these guys their thoughts on where they’d prefer to be in the lineup.

Let’s just say that Snit might have to reconsider a couple of spots.

Happily, one of the new guys is good with his spot:

Look, this is going to be unusual for a lot of reasons, but I can’t think of a them that might have had 3 MVP candidates – and that’s truly the case here – occupying the first 3 spots in the lineup.

Yielding already?

Late word today suggests that Snitker is already seeing the handwriting on the lineup card, and that Acuna may indeed stick at leadoff.

The trick now is this:  do the Braves have a true cleanup hitter?  The answer is almost certainly ‘No’ among the options of Flowers/McCann/Markakis/Albies/Swanson/Inciarte.

The reason this is going to be a bit weird is that with the best hitters at the top, you might need somebody to drive them in once on base.

Donaldson had a stretch of 4 consecutive years above 90 RBI (2013-2016), with one of those reaching 123 RBI (2015)… his MVP year.  He’s definitely an ‘on base’ force, averaging .367 for his career while approaching .400 at times.

Acuna Jr posted a .366 OBP himself last season despite coming off of his more typical walk rates from the minor leagues… which could simply be a product of better pitching.

Freeman has a higher career OBP than either of these hitters with RBI totals that have hit the 90’s or above on 4 occasions, but what we surely don’t want to see is having that OBP padded with intentional or even semi-intentional walks,

More from Tomahawk Take

• Braves News: Giving the bullpen some love, Trevor Bauer reinstated, more
• Atlanta Braves: Which offseason moves have other NL East teams made?
• Show the bullpen some love
• Braves News: Atlanta’s left field situation, Dansby negotiations, more
• Alex Anthopoulos discusses the Atlanta Braves payroll, rotation, Grissom, Swanson, Acuña, and more

In the aggregate, it’s almost a lock that at least 1 of these three will have been on base by the time the #4 hitter enters the box, and thus the 4-hole becomes vital.  That leaves:

• Flowers:  big pop potential, but 2018 was not especially kind to him (.227, 30 RBI).
• McCann:  definitely rooting for his legs to be under him again when he’s playing, but another lefty hitter could put 3 in row… maybe even 4.
• Markakis.  2 fun facts:  2nd on the team in RBI in 2018 (93), but also easily worst at hitting into double plays (18… it wasn’t close).  Still, with his .297 average, he’s a hitting machine and the most likely candidate.
• Albies/Inciarte/Swanson.  Stated in decreasing order of likelihood… none would be serious candidates regardless.

So this will play out as Spring progresses, but again:  if that’s the biggest story this Spring, then the Braves are doing well very indeed.

I’ll just leave you now with poem… or rather poetry in motion:

No, the Braves haven’t done that much overall this off-season, but with this guy in the lineup, there’s more than a fair chance that the won’t have to – at least on this side of the ball.