Mike Yastrzemski started in left field and batted eighth for the Braves against the Washington Nationals on April 22, 2026, getting another chance to snap out of a slow start as an outfielder. He was facing right-hander Zack Littell for the first time, while Atlanta also kept Mauricio Dubón at shortstop, gave Jonah Heim another start behind the plate and sent Drake Baldwin back into the lineup as the designated hitter.
Walt Weiss put Yastrzemski in the lineup to give him opportunities to get going, and the move fit a broader pattern in the Braves’ day-to-day juggling. Dubón had started on Tuesday after getting a day off Monday against Jake Irvin, and the catcher-DH split appeared to be settling into a rotation: if Baldwin caught, Dominic Smith would be the designated hitter, and if Baldwin was the designated hitter, Heim would start. That kept the Braves flexible while several regulars were starting to get going at the plate.
The matchup also carried familiar history for Atlanta. Austin Riley and Ronald Acuña Jr. had homered off Littell in the past, and the Braves’ own dugout gave a quick snapshot of the mood with the messages “7️⃣2️⃣ on the mound!” and “lining up→” as the lineup took shape. For Yastrzemski, though, the larger point was simpler: he needed at-bats, and Weiss was giving them to him in a spot where he could work his way into the offense before the night moved deeper.
That made April 22 less about one dramatic lineup card than about a team sorting out roles while it waited for production to settle in. Atlanta was trying to keep Yastrzemski moving forward, keep Dubón active, and keep the catching and DH mix balanced. If the Braves are going to keep squeezing value out of those pieces, this kind of night is how they do it.