When Ronald Acuña Jr. returned to the Atlanta Braves, he solved a hole in the leadoff spot the club had struggled to get any production from for the first two months of the season. Since rejoining the lineup, Acuña has been one of the best hitters on the planet. However, Brian Snitker has still struggled to put together a lineup behind the 2023 NL MVP to score more runs.
On Saturday, after a week of experimenting with the Braves weak-hitting left field tandem, the Braves manager finally decided to put the Braves second-hottest hitter in the two-spot.
With Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson hitting back-to-back, the Braves might finally get their offense off the ground.
Bases clear courtesy of Matty O!
🌟 https://t.co/tF2BPq04Q9 🌟 pic.twitter.com/eQFQQDFdQW
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 20, 2025
Why Brian Snitker needs to keep this lineup going forward
This season, the Braves have had six hitters take plate appearances in the two-spot. Ozzie Albies, Eli White, and Alex Verdugo have been well-below average hitters for the season, while Austin Riley, Drake Baldwin, and Marcell Ozuna have been above-average.
However, in June, Riley, Baldwin, and Ozuna have had prolonged slumps, and while Verdugo did decently in his five games in the two-hole, all of his hits were singles and a lot of his at-bats were frustrating. While Ronald Acuña Jr. has been reaching base at an insane .491 clip, by the time the Braves’ second-best hitter came up, there were already two outs.
With Matt Olson hitting second, Brian Snitker is now ensuring that his two best hitters are getting the most plate appearances. Acuña and Olson are the Braves best options to slug the ball and are two of the three best on-base options, with Olson’s .359 OBP coming 20 points behind Marcell Ozuna’s.
Having Olson hit second also forces pitchers to throw more strikes to Acuña. When Snitker was pencilling in Alex Verdugo, pitchers had no reason to pitch Acuña because Atlanta was throwing out one of their worst hitters in the second spot in the order.
Additionally, Olson has seen the most pitches on the Braves this year and has the third-most pitches per plate appearance. If Acuña was a qualified batter, he would rank in the top 15 in MLB. With these two at the top of the lineup, the opponent’s starting pitcher might already be gassed before he’s even recorded an out.
Even when Jurickson Profar returns from his suspension, the Braves will be better off with the duo of Acuña and Olson at the top of the lineup, as the combo of their on-base and slugging could give the Braves a deadly first-inning punch they’ve lacked for most of the season.
