Young gets a start, Heyward stays in sixth spot

MILWAUKEE -- Rookie outfielder Matt Young was excited to see his name on the Braves' lineup card Wednesday for the first time in a regulation major league game -- in the lineup, not listed with the bench players.

He was careful not to show it, though. Not so much because he was in a clubhouse with many veteran players and it’s not the thing to do to get all geeked up and tell a reporter how overjoyed one is to be making his first major league start.

Young, 28, was doing the best he could to remain calm and restrained because now that he was in the lineup, he wanted to stay focused and try to contribute.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” said the undersized Texan, who spent six seasons in the minors without a big-league appearance, then won a spot on the Opening Day roster. “I’m trying to approach it as normal.

“You know, kind of like spring training, just approach everything the same. Don’t get out of the routine because my swing feels pretty good right now, albeit it’s [batting practice] and stuff. But try to keep the same routine.”

Young started in center field in place of Nate McLouth, as manager Fredi Gonzalez continued his plan to give a few of his bench players a start during the four-game Milwaukee series that ends Thursday.

Before Wednesday, McLouth hit .211 with one double, one walk and a .286 on-base percentage in five games batting second. With McLouth on the bench, Gonzalez batted Young eighth and moved rookie first baseman Freddie Freeman from eighth to the No. 2 spot.

Gonzalez said McLouth would return to the lineup Thursday, but Young could get a second consecutive start, this time in left field.

The manager plans to rest third baseman Chipper Jones on Thursday and move Martin Prado from left field to third base, as Braves officials have said would be the arrangement when Jones is out of the lineup.

Heyward stays at No. 6

With McLouth out of the lineup, Gonzalez could have moved Jason Heyward from sixth to second, where Heyward hit for most of his rookie season in 2010.

He didn’t want to, though. Gonzalez decided to keep Heyward in the sixth spot, since McLouth will bat second again Thursday.

“It’s one of those things where I’m just giving [McLouth] a day [out of the lineup],” Gonzalez said. “I want to establish [Heyward] in the six-hole. If you move him around for a day and bring him up, I think you’re [messing with him] mentally.”

Gonzalez noted that his early-season lineup is not set in stone.

“My philosophy with the lineup is, I pick it the first 10, 12 days,” he said, “then the players pick it. You start hitting, you kind of pick where you’re going to hit.”

He meant that players could work their way up or down the order, depending on their performance.

Simulated success for Jurrjens

The Braves had a good report from Jair Jurrjens' simulated game Wednesday at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he tested his strained oblique with a 75-pitch workout consisting of four "innings" against Gwinnett hitters.

The right-hander threw 75 pitches to 18 batters and allowed two hits, no runs and no walks with three strikeouts and a hit batsman.

“He threw well, no problems,” Gonzalez said of the report he got on Jurrjens. “He’ll throw again on Monday at Gwinnett, and we’ll see how he goes from there. He’ll be lined up to [start] on the 16th, if everything goes well.”

Jurrjens opened the season on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 25. He’s set to make a Triple-A start Monday and rejoin the Braves’ rotation to start April 16 at home against the New York Mets.

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