Firstly, congratulations are in order for Michael Harris II and his wife, Esther. ICYMI, Michael was placed on the paternity list earlier today and we hope to hear happy news about baby boy Harris soon. MHIII? We shall see! More on the corresponding roster moves here, including a return for Luke Williams.
As a result, Mauricio Dubón will patrol center field and Jorge Mateo gets the start at short and will bat ninth.
The rest of the lineup looks a lot like the last time the Braves faced a lefty, including
Mike Yastrzemski in the seven hole, Drake Baldwin DH’ing, and Jonah Heim at catcher.
Braves menace Steven Kwan continues to lead off for the Guardians, but the one to watch here will be José Ramírez. Recently making headlines for setting the club record for most games played (1,620!), Ramírez has the most ABs versus Martín Pérez and has a .263 average and .754 OPS against him. Not only that, MLB’s game preview and Elias note that if he homers, he will be the first Cleveland player with home runs versus all other 29 MLB teams. The drama of trying to deny one of baseball’s stars an additional accolade… here’s hoping the Braves pitching staff will be up to the task today and tomorrow.
Buzzy rookie Chase DeLauter drops from second to fifth and will take a break from playing right field to DH. New faces David Fry and Austin Hedges will bat cleanup and eighth, respectively.
First pitch is set for 7:15 pm ET.
