Tony Vitello's first Opening Day SF Giants lineup answers pressing offseason question

Opening Day, or Opening Night, is here! The SF Giants will take on the New York Yankees at 5:05 PM PST and the Giants, under new manager Tony Vitello, have dropped their first lineup of the regular season. There are not any huge shocks, but they have answered one of the most pressing questions of the offseason by choosing to bat Luis Arraez leadoff.

The full lineup can be viewed below, shared by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Susan Slusser on social media:

SF Giants will have Luis Arraez bat leadoff on Opening Night

This doesn't come as a huge shock since the Giants have been using Arraez as their leadoff batter since early on during spring training. Ever since the Giants signed Arraez, there has been a lot of discourse amongst fans about where he should bat in the order.

Strong arguments can be made for basically any spot in the lineup, but batting him leadoff makes sense at least to start the year. Even though Arraez is not a speed threat, he makes contact better than pretty much any hitter in the majors. That makes him a really pesky at-bat to start the game as he can drive up the starting pitcher's pitch count.

Arraez has also had success against Yankees ace Max Fried in his career. In 11 career at-bats, Arraez has four base hits.

Vitello has spoken about how he can see using Arraez at different spots in the order. Just because he is batting leadoff tonight does not mean that's where he will be all season.

There are not really any other big shocks in the order. Seeing Matt Chapman bat in the No. 2 spot is interesting because he only batted there in four games last season and was primarily either the cleanup hitter or the No. 5 hitter in the lineup.

Rafael Devers being the designated hitter makes sense because the Giants have been very cautious with him in the field ever since he tweaked his hamstring in spring training. He only played at first base one time after that which is why Casey Schmitt is starting at first base.

There was some question about whether center fielder Harrison Bader would be ready to go for the game since he too is dealing with a hamstring issue. He played in Tuesday night's exhibition game so he seems to be good enough to play even if he isn't fully healthy.

San Francisco may have to lean on its lineup this season since most of the team's question marks have to do with the pitching staff at least at the dawn of this new campaign.

Vitello has to be feeling some nerves with this being his first big league game as a manager. The stage is pretty big as the Giants are facing the most storied franchise in baseball with the game broadcasting on the world's biggest streaming platform. No pressure, Tony!

At least he can rely on an experienced bat like Arraez setting the table for the order and it would certainly calm his nerves if the three-time batting champ got a base hit to get things going on offense for San Francisco after a quick top of the first inning from ace Logan Webb.