Atlanta Braves: Why Nick Markakis should hit 5th against RHP

Atlanta Braves: Here’s why Nick Markakis should be hitting fifth against RHP every time.

The Atlanta Braves got a good look at Toronto’s young pitching prospect, Nate Pearson, Thursday night as he pitched five strong innings and allowed three earned. Nate Pearson made his major-league debut on July 29, 2020, making him the 19,740th player to compete as a Major League Baseball player.

But this article is not about pitching. It’s not about Pearson, it’s not about Touki Toussaint (the bringer of hope) and his fantastic start.

This is about Nick Markakis.

Atlanta Braves – Nick Markakis eats right-handed pitching for breakfast like Shooter McGavin eats…you get the point

When Markakis opted out earlier this season, he left a huge hole in the Braves lineup from the left side of the plate.

Ozzie Albies is merely average against right-handed pitching. Yasiel Puig is a right-handed hitter who absolutely destroys right-handed pitching but that didn’t work out.

Matt Adams appeared to have been the answer, but now he’s on the injured list. 

Then, last night, Markakis comes riding into the rescue like Gandalf at first light on the fifth day, at dawn, to the east.

Prior to the game, I could not help but notice the complainery (yes, I made that word up) and tom-foolery happening with Braves fans all over the world.

Non-sense like:

“Nick Markakis hitting fifth tells you everything you need to know about Snit’s decision-making abilities.”

I’m comfortable calling that non-sense. Here is why.

Atlanta Braves – Nick Markakis

Markakis has a career triple-slash line of .292/.368/.441 against right right-handed pitching. 153 of his 189 career homers have come off of righties.

Kakes is in his 15th season as a big-leaguer and he’s never been much of a home-run hitter. Although he has flashed the power at times, he’s never been a 30-40 homer type of guy. For some people that can be the defining statistic.

Atlanta Braves – Nick Markakis in top 1% in all-time hits

My little friends, there is so much more to baseball than dingers.

I mentioned Nate Pearson was the 19,740th player to debut in the MLB.

That means Nick Markakis is in the top one percent of all players to ever play the game in all-time hits with 2,355.

Atlanta Braves – Nick Markakis is in the top 0.32% in all-time doubles.

Nick Markakis currently sits just one double shy of 500 for his career. He is 64th on the all-time list.

Of players with a minimum of 500 games or 3,000 plate appearances, Markakis’ .288 career average ranks 436th all-time. This list goes back to 1876, so it includes the great hitters from a different era like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, Nap LaJoie, and Ted Williams.

Atlanta Braves – Nick Markakis is the greatest defensive right fielder of all-time

That’s right. Nick Markakis is number one in MLB history in fielding percentage as a right fielder. He may not be the rangiest player to ever roam the grass, but he always makes the plays he is supposed to make.

Glad to have him back!