In his entire Braves tenure, Freddie Freeman has arguably been his team’s best hitter. However, he is generally eliminated in the top three in the lineup, in line with a traditional approach that does not appreciate the falls well on the battle of your best bat third. For a long time, there has been something a din and a slap for Freeman to hit second.
In this series finale against the Marlins … does it finally seem to happen? Yes, Freeman is built to the second place of the lineup behind Dansby Swanson. It will only be the second time in his career that he was slotted into the two-hole, with the first coming in April 2011. During his career, Freeman has recorded hacks in every lineup but leadoff, but has received at least 25 PAs in each of those spots, except second, where he dominated only six times.
The rest of the lineup moves behind him. Marcell Ozuna plays third, and in a sign that despite Freeman’s fortunate circumstances playing second, the Braves simply did not got it, Nick Markakis hits cleaning.
The lineup of the Marlins is most famous faces at this point, considering this is the finale of the series. Lewin Diaz, who got his first career hit in his first PA career yesterday, is making his first career start, hitting on cleaning and playing first base. Former Brave Ryan Lavarnway starter catcher
Game 15 of 60 • Rubber match with ATL leaves the winner in 1st place and LEWIN DÍAZ IS YOUR CLEANUP HITTER • The starting 9 behind starting pitcher Elieser Hernandez pic.twitter.com/Wc7kGajZSG
– Swings and Mishes (@SwingsAndMishes) August 16, 2020
Both Freeman and Charlie Culberson (not starting), Elieser Hernandez have taken deep before. Only five Marlins have faced Robbie Erlin, ever – their roster has less than 20 combined PAs against the southpaw.
