Drake Baldwin will DH on Opening Day, Jonah Heim will catch

Earlier at the moment, new supervisor Walt Weiss spoke with the media forward of his debut as supervisor of the Atlanta Braves. We’ll have more to talk about later so far as quotes from him (and Chris Sale and Matt Olson as properly) however for now, the largest information of that presser is that we obtained a little bit of an concept of ​​what the lineup goes to seem like tomorrow.

Weiss advised the media that Drake Baldwin will be within the lineup because the DH for Opening Day in opposition to the Royals. Jonah Heim will be the beginning catcher for Opening Day as properly. This’ll be Heim’s first Opening Day begin since 2024 when he was with the Texas Rangers and though he is clearly being utilized in a little bit of a depth scenario whereas Sean Murphy continues to be on the mend, Heim ought to nonetheless be fairly enthusiastic about being the backstop for Opening Day.

This additionally signifies that Walt Weiss goes to attempt to get Baldwin’s bat in there as a lot as he probably can as evidenced by the Designated Hitter look. This additionally signifies that he is sticking to his weapons with regards to protecting Mike Yastrzemski from beginning in opposition to lefties, as he would’ve been a chief candidate for the DH position heading into this season.

Walt Weiss additionally talked about that Ronald Acuña Jr. can be batting leadoff and indicated that that’ll in all probability be the place he stays. “First factor I stated to him [in an office meeting] was ‘Do you need to hit first, second, or third?’ So primarily based on the truth that it now appears all-but-confirmed that Acuña will be main off because of Weiss’s feedback following that little query, it positive looks like Acuña will be on the high of the order as properly and beginning in proper area.

So with simply over 24 hours between now and the primary sport of the common season, we’re beginning to get a clearer image of what Walt Weiss’ first official lineup card as supervisor of the Braves will seem like. We know Acuña will be main off and batting first, we all know Drake Baldwin will be DH’ing and we all know that Jonah Heim will be catching. What do you suppose the remainder of the lineup will seem like?