Braves Line Up To Face Padres Knuckleballer in Truist Park on Friday Night

The Atlanta Braves will face San Diego Padres knuckleballer Matt Waldron without third baseman Austin Riley

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Matt Waldron is the only pitcher in MLB that throws a knuckleball as his primary pitch. / Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves are about to be tested.  

The Braves are kicking off a stretch of seventeen games in seventeen days, one that will provide unique challenges and test the team’s resolve to give additional rest to several of their veteran starters. Opening that span is the San Diego Padres (22-24), sitting at 2nd place in the NL West and having already gone out for reinforcements with their in-season trade for divisional foe Luis Arraez from the Miami Marlins.

The Braves are hoping to start the stretch off on the right foot, sending ace Max Fried (3-1, 3.57) to the bump against righty knuckleballer Matt Waldron (1-5, 5.49).  

Lineups for the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres on Friday, May 17th 

Here's how Atlanta will line up for the contest:

RF Ronald Acuña Jr.
2B Ozzie Albies
DH Marcell Ozuna
1B Matt Olson
C Travis d’Arnaud
CF Michael Harris II
SS Orlando Arcia
LF Jarred Kelenic
3B Zack Short

Austin Riley continues to be held out of the lineup after being removed from Sunday’s game with “left side tightness”, later diagnosed as “inflammation” via MRI. The belief was that he’d be able to return after the off day, but he is not in today’s lineup. Zack Short will get his fourth consecutive start at third base for Atlanta.  

Fried’s turned around his stats after two rough starts to open the season - in his last six starts, he’s 3-1 with a minuscule 1.79 ERA. San Diego feels like a good matchup for the lefty, as he’s 30 with a 1.67 ERA in his four career starts versus the Padres, a stretch that includes five shutout innings last season where he allowed four hits, no walks, and struck out four.   

Interestingly, several of San Diego’s stars don’t have a long track record of success off of Fried: Manny Machado is only 1-12 (albeit a solo homer), while Xander Bogaerts is 1-5, Jake Cronenworth is 1-9, and Fernando Tatis Jr. is 1-2.   

Here's the Padres lineup:

DH Luis Arraez
RF Fernando Tatis Jr.
LF Jurickson Profar
1B Jake Cronenworth
3B Manny Machado
2B Xander Bogaerts
CF Jackson Merrill
SS Ha-Seong Kim
C Kyle Higashioka

Waldron’s the only pitcher in MLB that features a knuckleball as his primary pitch, throwing the 77mph floater about 35% of the time. Opponents are batting just .214 with a .375 off of the pitch. Outside of that, he features a traditional starter’s arsenal - a four-seam fastball (91 mph), sinker, sweeper, and cutter. 

Waldron’s never faced the Atlanta Braves and no one on their roster has an official at-bat against him. 

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres on Friday, May 17th 

This evening’s series opener is slated for a 7:20 PM ET first pitch. Atlanta’s broadcast is on Bally Sports Southeast while the Padres are on their self-produced Padres.TV. For those out of market, both are available on MLB.tv.

If you’d rather just listen, the Padres radio broadcast is available on KWFN 97.3 & XEMO 860 while the Atlanta Braves Radio Network has the standard broadcast on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan and affiliates across Braves Country and a Spanish language broadcast on La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM.