The 2022 series on team offense continues with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves finished eighth in the majors and third in the National League in 2021 with 4.91 runs scored per game.

This season I am using FanGraphs Roster Resource Depth Charts* as the source of default lineups. That Brian Snitker batting order is plugged into the Lineup Analysis Tool (LAT) using Musings Marcels as the batter projections.   That information produces the following results (Runs per game):

• Best lineup: 5.29
• Probable lineup: 5.23
• Worst lineup: 5.06
• Regressed lineup: 4.75

The default lineup and the LAT agree in a number of places, and in general the right batters find themselves in the right part of the lineup. The biggest disagreement comes in the person of Dansby Swanson. The LAT sees Swanson as the clean-up hitter, while the Braves default lineup bats him seventh. There is a lot of balance among the best hitters on the Braves, so different combinations at the top yield similar results.

This lineup does not include Ronald Acuna, Jr. who is expected to return in May. The best lineup with Acuna playing produces 5.53 runs, making Acuna about three wins better than Alex Dickerson. In the best lineups with Acuna, Swanson often bats seventh, and the LAT agrees with the Braves that Acuna would be the best hitter at the top of the order.

Atlanta is very good without Acuna, as winning the World Series showed in 2021. This offense will be great if he returns at full strength.

You can follow the data for the series in this Google spreadsheet.

Previous posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Houston Astros
• Tampa Bay Rays
• Toronto Blue Jays
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• Boston Red Sox
• San Francisco Giants
• Chicago White Sox

*This is the best version of this information I’ve seen, with everything you might want to know on one page.