Both Braves’ catchers in lineup again

Jarred Kelenic is likely day-to-day after his diving catch yesterday.

Well, the Atlanta Braves are going with the whole “two catchers both in the lineup” tactic two days in a row now. Not that they have much choice, with Marcell Ozuna still out of action with hip issues. Here’s the lineup:

Bryan De La Cruz gets the start, likely because Jarred Kelenic banged himself up making a diving catch late in yesterday’s game. Orlando Arcia also supplants Nick Allen. Not that you would prefer that the relatively easy outs in the lineup be interspersed, but this lineup is a bit amusing in that two through six all have above-average to great xwOBAs, and then seven through one, not so much. In particular, De La Cruz and Arcia (and Kelenic) have been essentially offensive spike pits to this point. Oh well.

Everyone in this lineup but Drake Baldwin has faced Chris Bassitt in at least a couple of games. The collective wOBA and xwOBA of these eight guys against Bassitt in their careers is .413/.370, respectively, across 72 PAs. Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and De La Cruz have all taken him deep before.

For the Jays, their lineup is largely familiar at this point too:

That said, it’s technically a new lineup this year for Toronto, since they haven’t quite used this combination of players before, given George Springer’s continued absence.

In this lineup, only Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., Alejandro Kirk, and Anthony Santander have faced Strider — and each only two or three times. Strider has struck out Bichette in two of three matchups, and Guerrero in one of three (Guerrero also has a double). Santander has also doubled off Strider.