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Atlanta Braves announce 2019 rotation and projected lineup

By Fred Owens

ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 22: Brian Snitker #43 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with champagne after clinching the NL East Division against the Philadelphia Phillies at SunTrust Park on September 22, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 22: Brian Snitker #43 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with champagne after clinching the NL East Division against the Philadelphia Phillies at SunTrust Park on September 22, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Braves
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – MARCH 12: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves hits a solo home run in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals during the Grapefruit League spring training game at Champion Stadium on March 12, 2019 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Atlanta Braves projected lineup

The game at CoolToday on Sunday modeled the lineup they’ll start the season with – minus the DH.

The plan as spelled out by David O’Brien in the Athletic today (subscription required), is for Ender Inciarte to lead off against right-handed pitching and Ozzie Albies to swap places with him against lefties.

Josh Donaldson gets his preferred spot in the batting order in what appears to me as a directive from the GM. Freddie Freeman sits in his usual three slot, and Ronald Acuna Jr. is the designated cleanup hitter.

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Nick Markakis slides into the fifth spot behind Acuna followed by the Albies/Inciarte platoon. It appears Brian McCann and Tyler Flowers are set to share the catching duties without a strict platoon, though getting McCann more PA against righties than Flowers would seem prudent.

And Dansby Swanson returned to the eighth spot ahead of the pitcher.

The bench appears to include a catcher, Camargo, and Charlie Culberson.

I got the impression from the O’Brien piece that he felt Joyce would get that job but Camargo the innings.

That’s a wrap

Aside from bullpen issues, much of the news is what we expected. Signing Tomlin so late in Spring Training made it a good bet he’d break camp with the team.

Lack of Major League ready depth and the seeming inability of the GM to find players who want to play for the Braves, may make Matt Joyce the backup for Markakis, but he’s a bad fit for that job.

Moving Acuna to cleanup so Donaldson can hit second looks like a downward directed decision.

O’Brien says Kevin Seitzer and manager Brian Snitker were among the people who decided on the move. Saying they were among the decision makers wasn’t an accident

In The Book, Tom Tango concludes that the two and four slot hitters should be interchangeable and the best walk rate should bat second.

Next. Wes who?. dark

Donaldson has that advantage, or at least he had it when he was healthy. For me, Acuna’s speed and aggressiveness offset that, but they didn’t ask me. Whatever the lineup becomes, having Acuna all season and adding Donaldson’s bat makes it deeper and more dangerous.

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