Ramon

Laureano

Laureano’s sixth inning home run brought the Braves within one run after they’d trailed for this entire game. The momentum seemed like it was starting to shift as he emotionally rounded the bases while being cheered on by his teammates. Then, he reached on an error to start the eighth inning and it immediately felt like Atlanta was going to tie this game up until Laureno was caught stealing just a few pitches later. Nevertheless, he’s been a key cog for the injury-riddled Braves and has been playing his best ball of late with five home runs and a .917 OPS over his last 30 games.

That’s now four straight starts for Laureano, who seems to have taken the left field job back from Jarred Kelenic after the Braves, somewhat questionably, decided to give Kelenic another stretch as the starter to begin the month. Laureano is hitting .309 in 44 games since the All-Star break with six home runs, 18 runs, 18 RBI, and four steals. If you dropped him when it seemed like he had been relegated to the bench, you should go ahead and add him again.

Even with the Dodgers starting a right-handed pitcher, the Braves will start Laureano over Jarred Kelenic. Kelenic has been starting regularly against right-handed pitchers, but he’s hitting just .178 in 44 games since the All-Star break with five home runs, 18 runs scored, and 46 strikeouts. Laureano has been the better player and could see a boost in fantasy value if he begins to start regularly.

With the Nationals starting a left-handed pitcher, the Braves finally started Laureano again over Jarred Kelenic, and the veteran responded. He came into today hitting .307 in 38 games since the All-Star break and has been far and away the better player between the two. If the Braves start to play him regularly, he could provide some solid fantasy value.

Jarred Kelenic will continue to start against right-handed pitching despite hitting .190 with 43 strikeouts over 41 games since the All-Star break. In his defense, Kelenic has had a solid five games to start September, but this feels like a short-sighted move for the Braves since Laureano is hitting .307 with six home runs, 16 runs scored, 14 RBI, and four steals in 38 games since coming to Atlanta.

The home run was Kelenic’s first in nearly a month as he’s fallen behind Ramón Laureano, Jorge Soler, and Michael Harris in the Braves’ outfield pecking order. Still, he delivered the big blow in this game and will look to try and wedge his way into more playing time. He might have a hard time though as Laureano has been on fire over the last month.

Laureano played over Kelenic three straight times against righties last week, but now Kelenic has been back in there for the last two, with Laureano’s only start this week coming versus a lefty. Kelenic is hitting .152/.221/.273 in 146 plate appearances since July 10, but now that Laureano has cooled off a bit, it seems he’s getting another chance.

Since coming to the Braves, Laureano has gone 37-for-123 (.301) in 42 games with 20 runs scored, 15 RBI, and two steals. That was after hitting just .143 in 31 games for the Guardians earlier in the season. With Jarred Kelenic struggling, it looks like Laureano should remain in the starting lineup for the Braves for the foreseeable future. He’s worth an add in almost all league types while he’s playing this well and hitting in this lineup.

With the Braves facing a left-handed starter, Kelenic will take a seat with Adam Duvall in the lineup batting fifth. The concern for Kelenic is that he could remain on the bench more regularly, even against righties, when Jorge Soler returns from injury this weekend. Ramon Laureano has been outplaying Kelenic pretty clearly over the last few weeks, so it’s possible the Braves shift Kelenic to be a left-handed hitter off the bench.

With Jorge Soler sidelined by a hamstring injury, Harris will get a shot to move into the lead-off role. The 23-year-old returned from his own hamstring injury on Wednesday and went 1-for-5 with a grand slam. If Soler were to be out for an extended period of time, Harris would be a major boost to his fantasy value as the lead-off hitter. Ramon Laureano is getting the start in right field on Thursday as well and would be in for a playing time boost against right-handed pitching.