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The Braves look to cap off a road series in Washington, DC with a third straight win. Top Braves pitching prospect Jared Shuster will make his major league debut for Atlanta today after impressing in spring training.

Standing in Atlanta’s way is former top prospect MacKenzie Gore, a 24-year old lefty. Gore was the prized return for Washington in the trade that sent young phenom Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres in 2022. The Nationals will look for better results from Gore than their other touted pitching acquisition Josiah Gray, who gave up three homeruns and five runs in his effort against the Braves yesterday.

The Braves feature a right handed heavy lineup today, with Marcell Ozuna in left field, Sean Murphy at catcher, and Travis d’Arnaud as designated hitter.

The only left handed bats are Matt Olson and Michael Harris II, who are everyday starters regardless of the handiness of opposing pitchers.

For the Braves to succeed against Gore, patience may be key. The lefty walked 4.8 batters per nine innings in 2022. He does not strike out a lot of batters, but he induces weak contact with a fastball-curveball-slider mix. The new shift ban could work against him, as ground balls will result in hits more this year, since teams cannot move infielders to defend against pull-heavy batters.

Shuster brings a fastball-changeup-slider mix, and like Gore, most of his outs do not come via strikeouts. Unlike Gore, he has not walked many batters in his minor league career, posting a 2.2 walks per nine innings stat. However, pitchers often seem intimidated early in their MLB careers and try to pitch around the edges. Shuster will need to trust his stuff against a non-imposing Nationals lineup and attack hitters, much like fellow Braves lefty Max Fried. If he does, he should be effective.

Keep an eye on the switch-hitting second baseman Ozzie Albies, who terrorizes left handed pitchers to the tune of a .329 batting average. He bats cleanup today, and should have plenty of opportunities to drive in runs with the red hot top of the Atlanta order in front of him.

Last season, the Braves did not sweep a series until June. They can achieve their first sweep of 2023 in their first three games if they win today.