Braves Opening Day Starting Lineup if Season Started Today

The Atlanta Braves' projected starting lineup has been forced to change with recent injury updates; let's see how it looks as of now

The Braves' lineup is in flux a bit, but they have logical options | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Braves are just over two months away from Opening Day (March 27). For a time, the lineup was starting to take shape. Then, there was an injury. We’re also still waiting on the status of others who are recovering. 

Additions over the offseason have helped shape the lineup for the season opener as well. With these changes, we still have the information to project the starting lineup. It can still change, but this is how it will look based on the current situation. 

Some obvious names will be in the starting lineup. These names are projected to be healthy for opening day, barring anything else that may come about. For that reason, we’re projecting all of these names to be in the starting lineup. Those names are Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Jurickson Profar, Mike Yastrzemski, Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II. 

So, that’s eight names right off the bat (no pun intended). That leaves one space open, as well as an explanation for why someone else didn’t make the cut. 

The first is determining the hole at shortstop. Ha-Seong Kim sustained a right middle finger injury, which required surgery to repair a tendon. An obvious man to step in for Opening Day is Mauricio Dubon. He was likely going to be the shortstop to start the season if Kim didn’t re-sign. They can simply turn to him again. 

Yes, they signed Jorge Mateo after Kim got hurt. However, he is arguably more of a depth piece. It would take a strong Spring Training performance for him to get the spot. The same is arguably true for Nacho Alvarez Jr. He has gotten regular playing time when others have gotten hurt, but there hasn’t been much indication that he could get the role.

For now, we’re sticking with Dubon.

Last is figuring out why a certain name isn’t in the starting lineup. That is Sean Murphy. There is an expectation that the goal is to get him and Baldwin in the lineup as much as possible. There is some uncertainty that he will be healthy in time for the start of the season. He is recovering from a hip injury that required season-ending surgery.

If he’s healthy, then, sure. We can pencil him in for opening day and scratch Yastrzemski. Until then, we’re having the latter start as the designated hitter for the game.

As of late January, here is what we're projecting the starting lineup on opening day to be. Order of the lineup has been determined by career trends, what seemed to work last season and some educated guesswork.

1. Ronald Acuña Jr., right field
2. Matt Olson, first baseman
3. Ozzie Albies, second baseman 
4. Austin Riley, third baseman 
5. Drake Baldwin, catcher 
6. Jurickson Profar, left field 
7. Mike Yastrzemski, designated hitter
8. Michael Harris II, center field 
9. Mauricio Dubon, shortstop

Since a starting pitcher is technically part of the lineup, we still have to determine who that will be. It doesn't take much to figure out who. It would be surprising if it wasn't Chris Sale. If he's healthy, he's the best pitcher on the team. He was an All-Star last season, and he barely missed a beat while he missed time.