So, here’s the deal with Friday night’s lineup against the Guardians:
Ronald Acuña Jr. is back, and is still hitting third for some reason;
Sean Murphy is back, and is hitting seventh for some reason;
Drake Baldwin is not in the lineup for some reason, which means Marcell Ozuna is ensconced in the DH spot.
At this point there isn’t much more to be said on all of these points. Wherever you go, there you are, and that includes weird lineup and playing time decision land.
The Guardians have a pretty standard-for-them-these days lineup:
Though the team has used 109 different batting orders in 120 games so far, most of them have involved Steven Kwan at leadoff and Jose Ramirez hitting third. Kyle Manzardo has been the cleanup guy of late, and Daniel Schneeman has hit second in much of August. The only kinda-sorta weird part of this lineup is Carlos Santana hitting sixth, as he’s hit below fifth just once this season before this game. But, he has just a .303 xwOBA, so it makes sense that even Gabriel Arias and his .310 xwOBA have slid ahead of the veteran first baseman.
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Manzardo, Ramirez, Schneeman, and rookie C.J. Kayfus are the only guys in this lineup with an xwOBA above .315. Ramirez is the only guy above .350, and it’s just .356. By comparison, the Braves have four guys at or above .370 (three are in the lineup) and another three above .315.