LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- With Ender Inciarte back from a World Baseball Classic experience that he hopes will help him avoid the first-half struggles he experienced last year, the Braves have a chance to spend Spring Training's final week getting a feel for their projected normal lineup.
"It's good to see what the lineup is going to look like and to be able to play games with the guys," Inciarte said. "It's good to be back because I like these guys and I like this team. I'm back now. It feels like I was gone for a long time."
Nearly three full weeks since he played his last Grapefruit League game before joining his Venezuelan teammates for the Classic, Inciarte rejoined the Braves' lineup for Thursday night's game against the Tigers. His return allowed the Braves to utilize each of their regulars in the same lineup for the first time since March 3.
Providing a preview of what the first eight spots of the Opening Day lineup will look like on April 3, the Braves ordered their lineup with Inciarte, Dansby Swanson, Freddie Freeman, Matt Kemp, Nick Markakis, Brandon Phillips, Adonis Garcia and Tyler Flowers.
Inciarte joined his Venezuelan teammates for a mini-camp on March 6 and then spent that following weekend competing in Pool D, which was contested in Jalisco, Mexico. Venezuela pulled out a win-or-go-home tiebreaker game against Italy on March 13 to advance to the second-round games, which were contested in San Diego late last week.
After Venezuela was eliminated, Inciarte brought his belongings back to Braves camp on Sunday. But because he had spent most of the past two weeks in either the Central or Pacific time zones, he spent a few days working out and readjusting his body clock before beginning to play in games again.
"I had a chance to play a lot of real games, where you put 100-percent effort out there," Inciarte said. "I'm not going to lie, I was looking forward to coming back and playing with [the Braves], because I'm looking forward to what this year brings."
Along with treasuring the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks playing with Jose Cabrera, Jose Altuve, Carlos Gonzalez and some of Venezuela's other top stars, Inciarte believes he could benefit from the opportunity he had to be introduced to highly competitive atmospheres and situations within the month of March.
When Inciarte slashed .227/.294/.306 before last year's All-Star break and then slashed .341/.396/.440 after the break, his first-half struggles were influenced by the month-long absence he experienced after straining his hamstring during the season's third game.
While physical health will once again influence Inciarte's success, he believes the mental preparations he made over the past couple of weeks will prove beneficial at the start of the regular season.
"Physically, I feel great, and mentally, I'm more ready than normal because this year we had to be mentally ready to play in [the Classic]," Inciarte said. "I feel like that got me ready and I'm looking forward to starting to play again and win a lot of games."