Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. Makes Highly-Anticipated Return From ACL Tear
On Thursday, the Atlanta Braves welcomed back star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., who tore his right ACL nearly 10 months ago.
After months of recovery, Acuña Jr. made his 2022 season debut at home during his club’s three-game series finale versus the Chicago Cubs. The two-time All-Star led off and returned to his familiar spot in right field.
Acuña Jr., 24, suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Miami against the Marlins on Jul. 10, 2021. Shortly after, he underwent knee surgery to repair the injury, limiting him to just 82 games last season.
Back on the field at Truist Park Thursday, the right-hander went 1-for-5 with a single and two strikeouts. Though, he did showcase his lower half by stealing a pair of bases – one of which occurred during a double steal in the fifth inning.
On defense, Acuña Jr. played all 9.0 innings in right field, however, he didn’t record a single putout. Still, the biggest takeaway was that he finished the game healthy.
Amid Acuña Jr.’s return to the line-up, Atlanta was looking to take two out of three games versus Chicago. With a victory, the team would improve its record to 9-11 on the season.
Thanks to starter Kyle Wright, who allowed just one run, three hits, four walks and struck out eight batters through 7.0 innings, the Cubs were held to a single run all night long. Not to mention, the Braves’ offense didn’t struggle to perform effectively, either.
Sparked by a trio of home runs from Austin Riley, Adam Duvall and Dansby Swanson, Atlanta scored five runs on 11 hits. In the end, they came away with a 5-1 victory, winning the three-game series over Chicago.
Prior to returning to the majors, Acuña Jr. made six rehab outings in triple-A Gwinnett, where he logged 25 plate appearances. There, he finished 7-for-19 with one RBI, six walks and a trio of stolen bases.
The 6-foot-0, 205-pound righty also made four starts in right field during his rehab stint, totalling 24.0 innings. He spent the other two contests as the designated hitter.
Moving forward, the Braves are expected to operate cautiously with Acuña Jr.’s work load. And rightly so. In the short-term, they hope to avoid using him in day games following night ones.
There’s also the expectation that the two-time Silver Slugger Award winner will occasionally spend time in the DH spot, as well.
The club has already announced that Acuña Jr. will rest during the series opener in Texas on Friday. But he’s expected to return to the line-up Saturday in game two of the three-game series.
While Acuña Jr. likely won’t be utilized on an everyday basis until after the All-Star break, having him as a part-time player should be a massive boost to Atlanta’s roster. A roster that was forced to win the 2021 World Series without him.
Before his last season was cut short, the Venezuelan slugger was considered a front-runner – if not the favourite – to win the National League MVP Award.
Across his 360 plate appearances, Acuña Jr. posted 24 home runs, 52 RBIs, a 157 wRC+ score and a .283/.394/.596 slash line. He also earned a 4.3 fWAR rating – the second-highest of his career.
At the time of his injury, he featured the third-highest fWAR, the fourth-highest SLG and was tied for the fourth-most round-trippers among all big-league hitters, according to FanGraphs.com.
Even though the Braves currently sit two games below .500, with Acuña Jr. fully healthy, their championship aspirations remain as strong as ever. After all, this franchise spent most of last season with a losing record before a late season surge saw them win it all.
As long as Acuña Jr. stays on the field, Atlanta projects as an elite playoff contender once again throughout the 2022 season.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.