Derrek Lee batting cleanup and facing Cubs in Braves debut

Derrek Lee will make his Braves debut later this afternoon at Wrigley Field against his former Cubs teammates. He’s also batting cleanup, which is somewhat unexpected for a guy with a .416 slugging percentage. Of course, Lee hit .304/.358/.528 with six homers and 10 doubles in the 30 games preceding his trade to Atlanta and has a long track record of similarly strong production. However, he batted fourth just 90 times over seven seasons in Chicago, hitting cleanup in only 9.9 percent of his Cubs starts. Brian McCann has been the Braves’ primary cleanup hitter this season, started there 77 times in 121 games, but the man Lee is replacing at first base, Troy Glaus, also hit cleanup 35 times before losing his job and landing on the DL. McCann is hitting behind Lee in the fifth spot today.