The Atlanta Braves are looking to sweep the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday afternoon. It’s a premier pitching matchup between Chris Sale and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Ahead of the series finale with the Dodgers, the Braves revealed their lineup. It looks like this, per @UnderdogMLB:
D. Baldwin C O. Albies 2B M. Olson 1B M. Dubón LF M. Harris II CF L. Thomas DH M. Yastrzemski RF A. Riley 3B H. Kim SS
C. Sale SP
One major change is Ronald Acuña Jr., who is riding the pine on Thursday, while Mike Yastrzemski is playing RF and Mauricio Dubon is out in left. Acuña Jr. has notably been struggling since the All-Star break.
Before the Braves game on Thursday, manager Walt Weiss revealed why Acuña Jr. is getting the day off.
Ronald may come off the bench for Atlanta in the series finale.
Update: The Braves won 1-0, completed the sweep over the Dodgers, but Ronald Acuña Jr. did not get an AB.
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Walt Weiss on Ronald Acuña Jr. Benching
Walt Weiss spoke with reporters before the Dodgers series finale:
@GrantMcAuley (Braves reporter) wrote (via X.com):
“#Braves MGR Walt Weiss said he wanted give Ronald Acuña Jr. this day off to help slow the game down for him. Obviously, he’s been pressing at the plate and there’s more chase without the walks he normally draws.”
Acuña Jr. went 0-for-5 on Wednesday, and his season average is .228, which is wayyy down from his career average of .284.
Ronald has been batting either leadoff or 2nd for the Atlanta Braves this season, but perhaps this benching will result in a drop in the lineup as well.
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Looking at Ronald Acuña Jr. This Season
Ronald Acuña Jr. has missed some time with injury this season, but he’s still played in 81 games.
Across 307 total at-bats, Ronald is batting .228 with 70 hits, 13 home runs, 12 doubles, and an OPS+ of 101.
While his OPS+ signals that he’s an above-average hitter compared to the MLB average, Ronald Acuña Jr.’s career OPS+ is 138.
Atlanta Braves Manager Reveals Reason Behind Ronald Acuña Jr. Benching