Braves bring B-team lineup against Blue Jays

Marcell Ozuna is off tonight and Stuart Fairchild and White get starts.

The Atlanta Braves have struggled this season offensively, there is no denying it. However, they have seen an uptick in offense since Sean Murphy came back. Since his debut six games ago, the Braves’ offense has been the fifth best in MLB in terms of wRC+, third best in fWAR, and third best in HRs. However, they have been tenth best in actual runs produced. Tenth is still a win though, since before that they fluctuated between the bottom five teams in runs up to that point.

Before today’s game, there were rumors that Alex Verdugo could finally be making his Braves debut. He has struggled in his twenty-two at-bats with a .182 average and .250 OBP but has a .750 OPS thanks to his two HRs.

As Mark Bowman pointed out, his performance could not be much worse than Kelenic’s who is currently sporting a .162/.270/.270 with one HR in thirty-seven at-bats.

The question has been answered on Verdugo and he is not starting tonight.

Marcell Ozuna will get the night off, which results in Sean Murphy hitting cleanup, Bryan De La Cruz hitting DH batting fifth, and Stuart Fairchild starting in RF. Eli White also gets the start.

None of the Braves have faced Easton Lucas who is making just his third career start. Lucas was converted to a starter this season and has yet to give up an earned run.

Grant Holmes has struggled with walks so far this season having a 19.5 percent walk rate which places him in the worst five percent of qualified pitchers. He does have a slightly better than league average 4.00 ERA, but has signs of regression.

Only four Blue Jays have faced Holmes before, but each only have one at-bat. Three of the four had a hit which produced an RBI. Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes, and Will Wagner were the ones with hits, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was unable to get a hit. These are obviously tiny sample sizes and likely don’t mean much in the big scope of things. However, it is clear that Holmes did struggle in his 0.2 inning performance on September seventh last season against the Jays giving up three runs on three hits to these players.

Wagner is not starting so only three of the players who have faced Holmes before will likely face him. Two big names for the Blue Jays are not in the lineup. George Springer is still day-to-day and will not start tonight, and Daulton Varsho is still on the IL.