MIAMI – With Ender Inciarte on the disabled list and the Braves not getting much production from the leadoff spot, manager Fredi Gonzalez put veteran Nick Markakis at the top of the order Friday.
“Nicky’s been our hottest hitter of late, and he’s done it before,” Gonzalez said. “And if Mallex (Smith) is not in the lineup, he’s our best option (while Inciarte out).”
Rookie center fielder Smith is 1-for-14 with two walks and five strikeouts since being called up to fill in for Inciarte, who is out with a strained hamstring and could miss another couple of weeks. Gonzalez wanted to rest the left-handed-hitting Smith against Marlins lefty starter Wei-Yin Chen in the series opener.
When Smith returns to the lineup this weekend, he’ll likely be hitting near the bottom of the order instead of the top.
“Looking forward, I don’t like doing one-day lineup changes like that,” Gonzalez said. “I may run this out for a little bit with Nicky at leadoff. I talked to him a little about it, and typical Nick Markakis fashion, he goes, ‘Hey, Skip, whatever you think is a winning lineup, you can put me wherever you want. I really don’t care.’ And he doesn’t. He’s legit.
“So I go, if we’re going to move you to first, we’re going to do it for a while. I don’t want to jerk you around that way.”
Markakis hit .303 with a majors-leading seven doubles and a .39 on-base percentage in nine games before Friday, and his eight RBIs were five above the Braves’ next-highest total.
Friday marked the first time Markakis hit leadoff this season, but he has nearly 1,400 career plate appearances at the No. 1 position including 285 PAs in 2015 in his first season with the Braves. He had a .294 career average and .358 OBP from the leadoff spot, including .295/.379 last season.
