Ronald Acuña Jr. dealing with knee issue in latest Braves worry
There are still plenty of days and weeks and games — an entire regular season worth of them — before the Braves’ quest to win their second World Series title this decade, but their path could face an early obstacle if Ronald Acuña Jr. misses time.
The star outfielder will get his right knee examined in Los Angeles on Monday after an initial MRI showed meniscus irritation, according to The Athletic.
It’s unclear how long he’ll miss, but what started out as getting stretched from a spring training game has evolved into a potential worry for the Braves ahead of Opening Day, a March 28 matchup against the Phillies that president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos still thinks Acuña can return for, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Acuña also posted, “I’LL BE BACK” Saturday on X, with an emoji of a person running tacked to the end.
Acuña, 26, has recorded one hit across seven at-bats and three spring training games.
“Right now we’re trying to be optimistic,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters, according to The Athletic. “Maybe [he’s out for] just a couple of weeks or whatever, just to calm everything down. But honestly, I don’t know until we get what the doctor out there says.”
Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the doctor who operated on Acuña following a torn ACL in 2021, will perform further testing, according to The Athletic.
“I mean, if you look at last year, it’s what [Acuña] means to baseball,” Snitker told reporters, according to The Athletic. “Just how much fun that kid is to watch. So hopefully [it’s nothing serious]. He did everything [in pregame drills] yesterday.
“But I’m not a doctor. So I’m just going to wait and see what they say. I guess the good thing is, it’s March 2. So we’ve got some time.”
Acuña, who won the National League MVP in 2023, tore his ACL in July 2021 and missed the remainder of the season — missing Atlanta’s run to the World Series title — before hitting .266 and .337 the past two years, recording .764 and 1.012 OPS across those pair of seasons, respectively.
He became the first player in MLB history to blast 40 homers and steal 70 bases in the same season, and when Acuña recorded the historic stolen base to secure the milestone during the 10th inning of a September game against the Cubs, he lifted the base out of the dirt and held it above his head.
“Very happy, most of all that we were triumphant in tonight’s game,” Acuña told Bally Sports in an interview that night. “We were able to win. It was a super emotional game and I’m extremely happy to have created the 40-70 club.”