By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The excitement of spring training always tends to waver as the weeks of March drag on.

Barring positional battles, the only things to latch on to are little joys like seeing the probable Major League lineup penciled in for their first spring game together.

It gives fans a chance to see what they might see come Opening Day and beyond. It is not generally meaningful in any way, but it is always fun and a reminder that real games are on the horizon.

Brian Snitker recently fielded all of his major starting players for a game and thus penciled in a batting order for a ravenous fanbase to consume while we wait for the front office to probably not make any moves, despite a need.

Instead, we made do with seeing a peak into Snitker’s plan and that plan seemingly includes toying around with moving Ronald Acuna, Jr. to the cleanup position in the lineup.

This is notable because the Braves really caught fire last season with Acuna leading off. So, what gives? Well there are two simple answers: the first one is, Snitker is just messing around to see how the lineup reacts to different ways of being put together. This isn’t a sign of things to come, just an experiment for exhibition games; the second answer is power.

Acuna is strong. He hit 26 home runs in 2018, which led the Braves. I might add, despite playing in just 111 games.

Traditionally, the bat with the biggest power (that isn’t your “best hitter,” mind you) bats fourth. For Atlanta, that power belongs to the young phenom. So, it makes traditional sense that he would bat fourth (26 homers in 111 games stretches out to 38 bombs over the course of a full season). So, there’s that.

There’s also the matter of “who else?” The Braves signed Josh Donaldson to bring some pop to the hot corner and he fits the bill of a cleanup hitter too, but he has made it clear that he’s adverse to cleaning up.

Snitker hit him second that first full-team day, and consensus seems to be that second is where he’ll slot in during the regular season.

As for Freddie Freeman; let’s just assume that it would take an act of god to pry him out of the three-hole and move on. He’s the face of the Braves and his numbers back him up being there.

Beyond that, there’s the Braves’ cleanup hitter from last season: Nick Markakis. Obviously, that worked out fine in 2018 but Markakis is likely to regress and was never really suited for the task to begin with.

Arguably he’d be a better fit for leadoff if Snit does hit Acuna fourth (Ender Inciarte led off the lineup in question).

So maybe Acuna is the way to go, just out of necessity.

On the other hand, the spark he brought to the lineup from the leadoff spot can’t be ignored. Plus, he’s on the record as wanting to hit first and shouldn’t we keep this kid happy?

Plus, traditional isn’t necessarily the same thing as “correct.” I definitely have an image of what a traditional lineup should look like, but that’s somewhat of a trap.

Modern thinking has begun leaning towards front-loading a lineup so that the best players get the most at bats. That would support the notion of keeping Acuna where he was at the end of last season.

Regardless of where he ends up (and my gut tells me he’ll be getting the Braves’ first at bat come March 28^th), the Braves will have a very formidable top of the lineup with Acuna, Freeman, and a healthy Donaldson. If Ozzie Albies can have a whole season that looks like his first half from last year, then they’ll be sitting very pretty.

Though, a pitcher could help.