Abraham Almonte did not make the Opening Day Roster. He was not called up during the initial flurry of Ender Inciarte and Cristian Pache injuries. But, he’s on the roster now, and hitting sixth. So it goes.
First pitch at 5:10 today at Truist Park.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 31, 2021
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Almonte has an 80 wRC+ for his career, and has gotten very limited playing time over the past few years in the majors. He was torching the International League with more walks than strikeouts, an ISO over .200, and a near-.500 BABIP, and the Braves certainly aren’t going to look askance at any of that also happening at the big league level, as unlikely as it is.
Neither Almonte nor outfield-mate Guillermo Heredia have faced Joe Ross before, but the rest of the lineup has, and has largely enjoyed their time batting against the right-hander:
Ronald Acuña Jr. has already taken Ross deep once this season; Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson have also homered off Ross in their careers.
The Nationals lineup behind Ross as follows:
Victor Robles was activated off the Injured List earlier today, but is not in the lineup, as Andrew Stevenson takes over in center. This is a novel lineup for Washington, and a defensive arrangement they’ve used once before in a win over the Orioles a while ago.
Exposure of this crew to Charlie Morton has been pretty spotty so far: Juan Soto has never even faced Morton before.
Here’s the Statcast graphic, and we’re all set for what hopefully won’t be another disappointing, skidding-further-into-the-pit game.