The Scouting Report: Braves vs Angels, Game 2

Lineups, pitching matchup, bullpen status, and what to watch tonight

• First Pitch: 9:38 PM ET

• Location: Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California

• TV: BravesVision

• Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan

• Weather: 71° and mostly sunny, wind SW at 7 MPH

Today’s Lineups

Atlanta Braves

RF Ronald Acuña Jr. (R)
DH Drake Baldwin (L)
2B Ozzie Albies (S)
1B Matt Olson (L)
3B Austin Riley (R)
LF Mauricio Dubón (R)
CF Eli White (R)
C Jonah Heim (S)
SS Jorge Mateo (R)

Quick thoughts:

• Here’s the second real shakeup of the season, following Austin Riley being off of Sunday, with Michael Harris getting the night off against a tough lefty. Similar to Riley, I imagine the goal is to give him the entire day but he’s available off the bench if needed.

• I love the idea of pairing the speed of Mateo and White in the same lineup, but it feels like Jonah Heim in the middle could potentially clog the basepaths. Would be a good problem to have, though, because that means they would all be on base at the same time.

Los Angeles Angels

SS Zach Neto (R)
CF Mike Trout (R)
1B Nolan Schanuel (L)
DH Jorge Soler (R)
3B Yoan Moncada (S)
RF Jo Adell (R)
LF Josh Lowe (L)|
C Travis d’Arnaud (R)
2B Oswald Peraza (R)

Quick thoughts:

• The two guys on LA’s roster that have seen López the most have wildly different experiences: Jeimer Candelario is hitting just 200 in 30 ABs, albeit with one homer and six RBI. On the flip side, Jorge Soler has destroyed López: Across 22 ABs, he has a .591 average with 4 HRs and 9 RBI.

  • Mike Trout’s also held his own, 5-9 with a homer, and he’s back in the lineup for the first time since getting hit on the hand with a pitch on Sunday.

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Pitching Matchup

Braves Starter: Reynaldo López (1-0, 1.64)

Quick snapshot (2024):

• 1.99 ERA / 3.91 xERA / 2.92 FIP

• 27.3 K% / 7.7 BB% / 1.8% HR

• Pitch mix (avg FB velo = 95.5 mph)

  • vs RHH: 56% 4S, 42% slider, 2% curveball, 1% changeup

  • vs LHH: 55% 4S, 20% slider, 19% curveball, 7% changeup

• What’s different so far this year?

  • So far, nothing significant. The 4S shape has regressed slightly, but that could just be sample size error - he’s thrown less than 80 of them

Opposing Starter: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-1, 6.52)

Quick snapshot (2025):

• 3.99 ERA / 4.48 xERA / 4.23 FIP

• 22.5% K / 9.6% BB / 3.1% HR

The arsenal (2025):

• Pitch 1 = slider (36% usage, 87.0 mph)

• Pitch 2 = four-seamer (35% usage, 94.8 mph)

• Pitch 3 = curveball (15% usage, 79.9 mph)

• Pitch 4 = changeup (12% usage, 85.6 mph)

• Pitch 5 = sinker (1% usage, 92.9 mph)

How He Attacks Hitters

Kikuchi made two significant changes this season, essentially dropping the seldomly used sinker in place of a cutter and cutting back on his curveball for a changeup. It’s led to a very well-rounded mix against righties.

Vs RHH: Here’s the sink, good luck hitting it

• 25% 4S, 23% slider, 23% changeup, 16% cutter, 13% curveball

Vs LHH: A vertical game

• 39% 4S, 35% slider, 19% cutter, 6% changeup

Sequencing (2026:) not enough PAs against lefties to learn anything here, but the righty chart is valid

How to read a plinko chart: Each circle represents the usage of a pitcher’s arsenal in a given count (color key below). The thickness of the connecting lines reflects how often each count occurs, helping show how a pitcher navigates an at-bat.

What This Means for the Braves

• Several members of this roster have seen Yusei Kikuchi a lot - Matt Olson’s hitting .269 with 2 homers in 26 ABs, Jorge Mateo’s hitting .421 in 19 ABs, and Jonah Heim’s a .357 hitter off of Kikuchi in 14 ABs. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies have each seen him six times and both have three hits and a homer.

• This roster just doesn’t have a ton of experience against lefty cutters - last season, nobody saw more than 45 of them throughout the entire year. Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, and Ozzie Albies all have fantastic RV/100 versus the pitch, but I don’t know how reliable the sample sizes are since it’s roughly 20-25 pitches seen for each of the trio.

Braves Bullpen Status

Likely available:

• The three leverage arms are all ready to go if needed tonight.

Used recently:

• Of the guys that pitched last night, Aaron Bummer can easily come back for one more. Tyler Kinley got last night off, but given his pitch count, he might not be a go-to option in the middle innings.

Potential limitations:

• Osvaldo Bido is likely unavailable - it wasn’t too many pitches last night, but José Suarez is still in the pen and ready to go.

Quick takeaway:

• Walt Weiss has most of his levers available to pull in this one, including a long man if needed.

Opponent Bullpen Status

Likely available:

• Most of the pen got last night off, thanks to the eight strong innings from José Soriano.

Used recently:

• Chase Silseth’s the only arm that is likely down tonight, both on account of being a recently converted starter that still isn’t well-versed in back-to-backs and the fact that he’s thrown 44 pitches in the last three days.

Potential limitations:

• Here’s where it gets dicey. A lot of these arms have some mileage on them from the weekend’s extra innings against the Seattle Mariners. Both Brent Suter and Sam Bachman are in the high 30s over the last three days and Shaun Anderson and Ryan Zeferjahn are in the high 20s.

Quick takeaway:

• Still not convinced that Kurt Suzuki knows how to manage a bullpen.

• Kikuchi giving them another long start would leave them in a good place to finish the series tomorrow and enjoy an off day, but if he leaves early, Wednesday’s finale could get messy - this pen has a lot of work on it recently.

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What to Watch This Evening

• How does the Braves offense respond to last night’s disappointing outing?

• Can the Braves find ways to get Eli White’s speed involved, or is he destined for the bench as soon as Yusei Kikuchi leaves the game?

• Does the Angels try and push Yusei Kikuchi for length tonight, or are they willing to leave this one up to a pretty taxed bullpen just because most of them got the night off on Monday?