Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. Homers in First Rehab Game
Playing in his first game in nearly a year, Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. began his rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League on Tuesday with a bang, literally.
The 27-year-old slugger crushed a fifth-inning home run as part of a 1-for-3 performance with the organization’s FCL team, marking his return to game action after tearing the ACL in his right knee on May 26, 2024. He also logged six innings in right field prior to his scheduled departure.
Acuña is now expected to join Triple-A Gwinnett, where he’s slated to play Thursday as part of the next step in his recovery program. The Braves have yet to reveal how many rehab games he’ll require before being able to rejoin the big-league club off the injured list.
“This is a young man that hasn’t played in a long time,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters Tuesday, including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. “So his body has to get back into baseball shape. That doesn’t happen overnight. That’s a time-consuming thing.”
Considering Acuña is recovering from his second ACL tear in three years, Atlanta’s medical team is understandably taking every necessary precaution this time around, hoping it’ll help the 2023 NL MVP winner stay on the field once he completes his current rehab assignment.
The four-time All-Star was limited to just 49 games last season before undergoing season-ending surgery to repair his ACL. In that time, the right-handed-hitting outfielder posted four home runs and 15 RBIs, slashing .250/.351/.365 and swiping 16 bases.
Acuña suffered a torn ACL in that same right knee midway through the 2021 season, ending his campaign after 82 games and forcing him to watch from the sidelines as the Braves went on to win their fourth World Series title that fall.
When healthy, the native of Venezuela is considered one of baseball’s most electrifying superstars, as he proved during his MVP performance two years ago with the sport’s first-ever 40-70 season after notching 41 home runs and 73 steals.
As a result of two separate ACL tears, though, Acuña has played 120 games or more in a single season just once since 2021 – his MVP-winning performance in ‘23.
Suffice to say, he figures to provide a massive spark for the Braves’ lineup once he’s cleared to return.
By rule, position players must complete a rehab assignment within 20 days. Once that period passes, they must either return to the shelf or be activated from the IL, meaning Acuña’s return date will likely arrive before the end of May.
In his absence, Atlanta has primarily relied on a platoon of Eli White and Jarred Kelenic in right field this season, with each compiling at least 160 innings thus far. However, the latter was optioned to Triple-A late last month after failing to correct his continued offensive woes.
White, meanwhile, has been a remarkable early-season success story for the Braves. In 34 games, he’s hit .287/.347/.494 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBIs while earning a career-high 131 wRC+ (100 league average).
The 30-year-old outfielder, previously a bench player prior to this season, is one of many factors that have allowed Atlanta to recover from its dreadful 1-8 start to now sit at .500 entering Wednesday’s contest versus the Washington Nationals.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: D. Benjamin Miller. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.