Brian Snitker's Lineup Options to Fix Struggling Braves Offense

The Atlanta Braves have essentially reached the quarter mark of the 2025 season with their offense badly struggling.

Overall, the Braves will enter Monday's action in the bottom half of the league in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. They perform even worse with runners in scoring position.

The Braves didn't have an elite offense last season either. Injuries received the bulk of the blame, but the injury narrative may have done a disservice to this team. It gave the organization the false pretense that everything would be fine as long as everyone was healthy in 2025.

Minus Acuña's absence, the Braves have been healthy this season, and their offense is still struggling. It's long overdue Braves manager Brian Snitker experiments with the team's lineup.

Snitker tinkered with the lineup a little during the series versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. But the Braves haven't scored at least five runs in a nine-game inning in nearly two weeks. It's time for a major adjustment.

Depending on how experimental Snitker is willing to get, he could have a few options.

The first one I would consider is moving first baseman Matt Olson into the No. 2 hole. Olson is supposed to be Atlanta's power hitter. He hit 54 home runs two years ago, and he is tied for second on the team with seven homers during 2025.

But Olson also walks a lot. He's second on the team with 29 walks and third in on-base percentage at .356. That's higher than third baseman Austin Riley, who is currently batting second.

Riley has been Atlanta's best all-around offensive player this season. So, Snitker may be relunctant to move him out of the No. 2 spot because of the potential to disrupt him.

It's a risk probably worth taking, though, for the better of the team.

With Olson batting second, Riley could hit third or fourth, depending on where Snitker wants to place designated hitter Marcell Ozuna. Riley has clearly enjoyed batting directly in front of Ozuna for most of this season, so I would keep that the same, sliding Riley and Ozuna each back a spot to move Olson to the No. 2 hole.

However, if Snitker wants to get even more experimental, he could consider moving Olson or Ozuna to the leadoff spot.

Ozuna leads the Braves with a .420 on-base percentage because of a league-leading 34 walks. In the leadoff spot, Ozuna could set the table for Olson and Riley.

I'm an old-school baseball fan. I don't like deploying slow power hitters in the leadoff spot. They clog the basepaths, and they hit too many solo homers.

However, placing a guy like Ozuna at the top of the order is something I'd consider in the situation I don't have a better leadoff option, which the Braves don't right now. The shine has worn off Alex Verdugo, who is slashing .140/.213/.186 in the past 11 games.

The Braves could really use more production from Ozuna, but that's not because Ozuna is putting together bad at-bats. Again, he's leading the league in walks. It's just not leading to runs for the Braves.

Ozuna has 13 RBI and 16 runs with five home runs this season. He's not ranked in the top four in either category for Atlanta.

Part of why, again, is all the walks. He's not getting pitches to hit. But if Ozuna kept walking in the leadoff spot, then he could potentially score more runs.

The other more conventional change Snitker could try is moving an unproven speedster to the leadoff spot. Outfielder Eli White is the best candidate.

The 31-year-old owns a career .277 on -base percentage. That's not typical leadoff material. But he's been a pleasant surprise this season, slashing .284/.333/.506. White has walked six times in 88 plate appearances and stolen three bases on four tries.

If White could continue that pace in the leadoff spot, he would be a poor man's Acuña (White would have a lot less power).

Moving an overachieving projected bench player from the bottom-third of the order to the leadoff spot is not ideal because it significantly raises expectations. White could begin pressing, trying to create too much, thus losing the 2025 success he's experienced.

But the Braves are pretty much out of options. The worse thing Snitker could do is continue to run out the same lineup card as the offense continues to struggle.

Snitker appeared to realize that. He tried Ozzie Albies in the leadoff spot Friday, but Albies doesn't have a hit in his last 22 at-bats. Albies should move to the bottom of the order if he stays in the lineup at all. Maybe it would be beneficial for Albies to get a break on the bench to reset his mind.

On Sunday, Snitker tried switching Olson and Ozuna in the No. 3 and 4 spots, respectively. He could continue trying that small tweak, but it might take a more drastic measure to get the Braves offense going again.