It’s time to for Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker to shake things up. Fans are rightfully irate after losing a series to one of the worst teams in baseball this past weekend. One thing was clear during the Braves time in Pittsburgh these past few days, the offense is very VERY flat at the moment.
On the season it hasn’t been all rainy days, but the offensive fireworks have been few and far between. Atlanta can’t afford to sink too far behind in the NL East standings, and hoping Spencer Strider or Ronald Acuña Jr. will magically save this team is unwise. Until their superstar returns something drastic has to happen to spark this lineup. That something may require batting one of the slowest players in baseball at the top of the order.
Braves need to utilize Marcell Ozuna’s on-base skills properly and bat him leadoff
When the Braves were clicking earlier this season it had a lot to do with the emergence of Alex Verdugo in the leadoff spot. Unfortunately, Verdugo’s strong start feels like a distant memory at this point. Since April 28, Verdugo has an abysmal .186/.271/.233 slash line and 47 wRC+.
With no clear ideal fix for the leadoff spot it’s time to get weird. Enter high on-base machine Marcell Ozuna. The Big Bear hasn’t exactly been tearing the cover off the ball recently, but he is still drawing walks at an elite rate. His 20.9% walk rate leads baseball, and .420 OBP is easily the best mark on the Braves.
It’s an outside the box strategy to put a player who ranks in the sixth percentile in sprint speed at the top of the lineup, but Atlanta’s bottom of the order is wasting Ozuna’s OBP skills. It’s true Ozuna won’t cause chaos on the bases, but Olson and Riley getting the chance to drive him in should prove beneficial in scoring more runs which the Braves desperately need right now.
Riley in particular has a .909 OPS and 148 wRC+ with RISP this season. There’s also something to be said for starting a game off where the opposing pitcher has to be locked in from the jump. Alex Verdugo poses no threat to take a pitcher over the fence, whereas Ozuna strikes immediate fear into the pitcher with his incredible hard-hit rate and 280 career homers.
The Braves’ offense has been an incredibly tough watch lately, and this type of lineup shuffling certainly can’t make things any worse. It’s time to be bold, because time is something the Braves are running out of faster than they care to admit.
