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Jason Heyward Starts In Center Field For First Time On Wednesday

The Braves are really shaking up their lineup on Wednesday night. Not only are Michael Bourn and Chipper Jones taking the night off to rest, but the typical batting order has been completely switched around by manager Fredi Gonzalez.

The biggest news? Jason Heyward is starting in center field for the first time in his career. You'll probably be surprised by who is batting leadoff, too.

We have the full lineup after the jump...

Atlanta will be facing a veteran lefty in Mark Buehrle tonight, so Gonzalez apparently wanted to get as many righties in the lineup as possible. Here it is:

Tyler Pastornicky SS
Martin Prado LF
Freddie Freeman 1B
Dan Uggla 2B
Brian McCann C
Matt Diaz RF
Jason Heyward CF
Juan Francisco 3B
Mike Minor P

Certainly creative and original. They probably won't score too many runs, but at least they'll give some guys a night off.

Gonzalez always does a nice job of making the lineup balanced, but this team is going to struggle getting on base without Bourn and Chipper playing. Jason Heyward should have been moved up and Pastornicky should be hitting eighth again, but hey, what good is a lineup if you don't have a little speed (#vrooom) at the top?

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.