Diamondbacks Shake Up Lineup, Marte Leads Off

On March 27th, the Arizona Diamondbacks shook up their opening-day lineup against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday 9th.

Second Basement Ketamarté is hitting lead-off for the first time in the spot against a right-handed pitcher, with Corbin Carroll slotted second.

Usually, Carroll leads off against Rides, but manager Tori LeVulo switched things up facing Dodger's starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Marté, a switch hitter with solid splits versus both sides, brings power right from the start.

LeVulo explained he wants a strong hitter up top to challenge pitchers early.

He noted the bottom of the order is built to get on base, creating pressure when runners are aboard.

To balance Marté and Carroll's aggressive swings, third baseman, Geraldo, Perdomo, bats third.

Perdomo excels at long-add bats, working counts up to five or seven pitches to protect the top guys.

Marté posted a strong 2025 season, hitting 283 with 28 home runs, despite injuries.

As lead-off hitter that year, he had an 889 on-base plus slugging, and performed 49% above league average.

This lineup tweaks sets up the Diamondbacks to pressure the Dodgers from pitch 1.

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