Marcell Ozuna back in at DH against Alcantara, Marlins

Well, it’s April 26, and lo and behold: Marcell Ozuna is back in the lineup. His xwOBA is down to .302 on the year and as they say, giant alien spiders Sandy Alcantara is no joke, but here we are. Eddie Rosario slides out of the DH spot and into left field to accommodate the Braves’ beleguared roster barnacle.

Your guess is as good as mine as to why Sam Hilliard is hitting ninth, behind Ozuna. I guess it’s to put a lefty on ahead of Ronald Acuña Jr., but that’s about all I got.

This is both a novel lineup and defensive arrangement for the Braves this season, so not much else to say there. And since I am writing this post knowing that the Marlins won’t put up a lineup any time soon, I guess let’s do batter-v-pitcher stuff?

I have no idea what to do with this information. I don’t think there’s anything to be done with it. Did you know that Ozuna has good numbers against Alcantara, a guy he was once traded for, in all of 15 PAs? I didn’t.

Alright, so finally, the Miami lineup:

Bryce Elder gets a little bit less of a break than his rotation-mates, because Luis Arraez is back in the lineup for Miami after missing a few games with a hurt knee. This will be his first time hitting cleanup on the season, and actually his first time doing so since June of last season. That makes this a novel lineup for Miami, and also a novel defensive arrangement as well.

Not a lot of PAs of exposure for anyone here against Elder, but maybe more than you’d think given his relatively young tenure as an MLB starter so far — because he’s about to make it such that 36 percent of his MLB starts have come against the Marlins.