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d’Arnaud back in the lineup | Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Soler makes his debut, along with Whit Merrifield The new look Atlanta Braves have shown some recent success and are looking to continue it this afternoon against the Brewers.
Of course, the exciting news is seeing the new lineup, which would hopefully feature 2021 World Series hero Jorge Soler leading off. This appears to be the case. Soler has a .860 OPS in his last two months and for the season is in the top seventeen percent of MLB in walk rate at 11.2 percent of the time.
The next question was who would be the third outfielder this afternoon with Soler and Kelenic being virtual locks to get the start. Eddie Rosario has faced Peralta (the Brewers’ starter) seven times and has a .000 OPS, Duvall has struggle mightily against righties this season with a slash line of .187/.187/.235, and Laureano is 0-1 against Peralta with two walks. Theoretically Merrifield could get a start, but in the Braves’ current state we knew that second base would have likely been where he would play if he were to start, especially with Nacho being optioned earlier today.
All these questions are now answered with the lineup being revealed:
Rounding out the road trip.#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/zNbTSmX12P— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 31, 2024
Soler will be in RF and bat leadoff and Whit Merrifield will be playing second base batting ninth.
Austin Riley has easily had the most success against Freddy Peralta with a 1.431 OPS in eight at-bats, but the player with the most at-bats with fifteen (Ozuna), has struggled to a .545 OPS.
Chris Sale will be facing a lineup that has not seen much of him. Only three players on the Brewers active roster have at least one at-bat against Sale. Two of these players are catchers in Eric Haase and Gary Sánchez, meaning we could already guess that a maximum of two starters would have been in the lineup who have seen Sale before. However, that would be a false assumption. William Contreras has the afternoon off. None of these three aforementioned players have had success against Sale with the highest OPS among them is a .625, which belongs to Willy Adames.
Series rubber match : @BallySportWI : @620wtmj #ThisIsMyCrew x @fleet_farm pic.twitter.com/stE4X5co6j— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 31, 2024
Former Braves fan favorite William Contreras has had a fantastic year with a 120 wRC+, but has struggled since the start of June. Since June first he has a wRC+ of 80. This has come with a with a slash of .231/.299/.339. He will be getting the day off with the other two catchers on the roster getting the starts at C and DH.
First pitch is at 2:10 ET
<img alt="MLB: Atlanta Braves at New York Mets" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iMjr7XfvzuLdPOynJ4CSNy0Rf4c=/0x0:4480x2987/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73493464/usa_today_23848431.0.jpg">
d’Arnaud back in the lineup | Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Soler makes his debut, along with Whit Merrifield The new look Atlanta Braves have shown some recent success and are looking to continue it this afternoon against the Brewers.
Of course, the exciting news is seeing the new lineup, which would hopefully feature 2021 World Series hero Jorge Soler leading off. This appears to be the case. Soler has a .860 OPS in his last two months and for the season is in the top seventeen percent of MLB in walk rate at 11.2 percent of the time.
The next question was who would be the third outfielder this afternoon with Soler and Kelenic being virtual locks to get the start. Eddie Rosario has faced Peralta (the Brewers’ starter) seven times and has a .000 OPS, Duvall has struggle mightily against righties this season with a slash line of .187/.187/.235, and Laureano is 0-1 against Peralta with two walks. Theoretically Merrifield could get a start, but in the Braves’ current state we knew that second base would have likely been where he would play if he were to start, especially with Nacho being optioned earlier today.
All these questions are now answered with the lineup being revealed:
Rounding out the road trip.#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/zNbTSmX12P— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 31, 2024
Soler will be in RF and bat leadoff and Whit Merrifield will be playing second base batting ninth.
Austin Riley has easily had the most success against Freddy Peralta with a 1.431 OPS in eight at-bats, but the player with the most at-bats with fifteen (Ozuna), has struggled to a .545 OPS.
Chris Sale will be facing a lineup that has not seen much of him. Only three players on the Brewers active roster have at least one at-bat against Sale. Two of these players are catchers in Eric Haase and Gary Sánchez, meaning we could already guess that a maximum of two starters would have been in the lineup who have seen Sale before. However, that would be a false assumption. William Contreras has the afternoon off. None of these three aforementioned players have had success against Sale with the highest OPS among them is a .625, which belongs to Willy Adames.
Series rubber match : @BallySportWI : @620wtmj #ThisIsMyCrew x @fleet_farm pic.twitter.com/stE4X5co6j— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 31, 2024
Former Braves fan favorite William Contreras has had a fantastic year with a 120 wRC+, but has struggled since the start of June. Since June first he has a wRC+ of 80. This has come with a with a slash of .231/.299/.339. He will be getting the day off with the other two catchers on the roster getting the starts at C and DH.
First pitch is at 2:10 ET
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