Snitker Keeping Acuña in New Spot in Braves Lineup, Though Out Wednesday

Manager Brian Snitker is keen on keeping the recent Atlanta Braves batting order intact with its recent success. 

He especially likes Ronald Acuña Jr.’s embrace of the three spot in the order. Before he went 0-for-4 on Tuesday, he had a .444 on-base percentage and a 1.206 OPS in the six games since batting third for the first time in his career. 

“I kind of like his mindset at three," Snitker said ahead of Tuesday's game, "because he has been taking some walks, and credit to him that he’s understood, especially when Austin went down. That’s a big hole in our lineup.” 

Having Jurickson Profar as an experienced option for the lead-off spot made it easier to move Acuña out of his usual spot. 

Even when Austin Riley returns, Snitker plans to keep Acuña in the three hole while penciling Riley in somewhere in the middle of the lineup. He likes Riley there as a "run producer."

Snitker said he’s seen Acuña as someone who could succeed a bit lower in the lineup, but because of his success batting lead-off, they weren’t moving him down. 

“I always felt like that three-hole hitter is kind of a status thing, too,” he said before the game on Tuesday. “You always see some of your better hitters in the game are two or threes.” 

Some of the Braves' most notable hitters spent a bulk of their careers batting third. Hank Aaron almost exclusively batted either third or cleanup. Chipper Jones started 1,796 of his 2,499 career games in the three spot. Freddie Freeman has mainly batted third with some games batting second or cleanup. 

There’s some healthy precedent for having top hitters in a certain part of the order. It’s a general part of baseball knowledge, but seeing which greats batted in a certain spot helps build better context and perspective. 

Outside of Acuña, the Braves have produced better at the plate lately. Tuesday night was all the same problems, but they had been on a run. In the six games leading up to the 9-0 loss to the Giants, where Acuña is batting third, they scored at least seven runs four times and at least four runs in five of the games. If not for some lackluster nights from the pitching staff, they might have been 5-1 in that time instead of 3-3. 

So, expect to see Olson sticking around the two spot in the order. Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin partnering up as a catcher and designated hitter tandem looks to be a long-term option. 

Keep rolling with it until it stops working, and, no, one game doesn’t mean it stopped working. Baseball is about trends. When there is an upward trend, you follow that trend. 

Snitker opted to keep Acuña out of the starting lineup for the series finale against the Giants. He'll get the chance to rest his knees with the quickly turnaround time and the off day on Thursday. This has been a normal trend since he got back. He exited Tuesday night's game as part of the precaution.

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