ATLANTA — Ronald Acuña Jr. was in such a good mood after working out with the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Wednesday, the rehabbing superstar didn’t seem perturbed when the first six questions from reporters focused entirely on his controversial social-media message on April 20.
In that Easter Sunday message, Acuña essentially threw manager Brian Snitker under the proverbial bus. He implied a double standard in Snitker’s lack of discipline for Jarred Kelenic after an incident on April 19 that was similar to the one for which Acuña was removed from a game in 2019.
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Acuña met with Snitker before Wednesday night’s game against the Washington Nationals, and then with the team, and said he’s confident the situation can be put to rest now.
“I told them I’m not coming here with any excuses, took accountability for what I did,” Acuña said through a translator. “We have a really good relationship and good dynamic among one another, so I think we’ll be able to move on just fine.”
Ronald Acuña Jr: “I’ve always just felt such a strong sense of pride of being a member of this organization. I want to be here my whole career. So, seeing the team and my teammates going through (struggles) and not being able to help…was where the frustration was coming from.”
— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) May 14, 2025
To refresh: On April 20, before a Braves day game, there was an X post regarding Snitker taking no action when Kelenic failed to run out a fly ball the night before. Kelenic thought it was going to be a homer and was thrown out trying to get to second after it caromed off the wall.
Acuña replied to that X post with a post of his own that read: “If it were me, they would take me out of the game.”
It was removed in less than an hour, but it had gone viral. Controversy swirled on social media while the Braves played that day.
Acuña’s post was a reference to Snitker pulling him from a 2019 game after Acuña did essentially the same thing as Kelenic. Acuña was not thrown out but had to settle for a single after not running out of the batter’s box.
Even if Acuña felt there was a double-standard — Snitker said a day later that he didn’t actually see the Kelenic play — most agreed Acuña should’ve handled his displeasure differently, and privately, rather than calling out his manager on X while Acuña was in Florida continuing to rehab from June knee surgery.
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Now, with Acuña set to play Thursday at Triple-A Gwinnett as he enters the last stage of rehab, he came by Truist Park, worked out and watched the game from the dugout. Before the game, Acuña met with reporters for the first time since spring training, not long after meeting with Snitker and then with the team.
“Just apologized and asked for his forgiveness for what I posted, and for being a distraction,” Acuña said. “You know, just wanted to clear the air and move on.”
Braves pitcher Bryce Elder, who limited the Nationals to one run in six innings of Wednesday’s 5-4 loss, said the team heard all it needed to hear from its biggest star.
“He spoke with us before the game. He had a meeting with us,” Elder said. “He handled it well and did his part. So that’s all we can ask for. We’re ready to have him back.”
The Braves got off to an awful start — 0-7, then 5-13 — but had consecutive wins for the first time in the two games before Acuña’s X post. They also won that Easter to complete a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins, which got overshadowed entirely by the controversy around Acuña’s X message.
The controversy faded while Acuña was away from the team, but he and the Braves knew he would have to address it the next time he was at Truist. That was Wednesday.
“I talked to them man-to-man, admitted that I was wrong,” said Acuña, who answered some questions in English and others through a Braves translator.
Is Acuña still harboring resentment toward Snitker for that incident five years ago?
“No, no, no,” he said. “That (X post) was just a moment of frustration for me, but thankfully I was able to apologize to Snit. I was in the wrong. I shouldn’t have done that. But thankfully I was able to apologize to Snit man-to-man, to his face. I was able to apologize to my teammates, and now we’re just turning the page and moving on.”
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Snitker expressed a similar sentiment after Acuña’s actions Wednesday.
“I think it was good for him to do that,” Snitker said. “It takes a lot to do something like that. I think he was (contrite), and now we’re just excited to get him back going tomorrow in Gwinnett. And he looks great. His body’s lean and you can tell all the rehab and everything he’s been doing because he’s lost some weight. I think that’ll be good for him as far as when you start dealing with knees, not carrying around extra weight or whatever and in good shape. It’ll help him.”
Acuña was asked why he was frustrated on April 20. He said it wasn’t about the incident five years earlier.
“I was just frustrated with my situation in the sense of being able to return to the team,” he said. “It just felt like I’m coming off a second major injury, I’m in Florida away from my teammates. The team is struggling. Those were the things that were sort of frustrating me. And I’ve always just felt such a strong sense of pride of being a member of this organization. I want to be here my whole career.”
The Braves are 21-22, having reached .500 for the first time Tuesday before blowing a 4-1 lead in a sloppy loss Wednesday. They will try to win the four-game series Thursday afternoon. Not long after, Acuña will be in right field for the Gwinnett Stripers in a home game against Charlotte.
He will be teammates and outfield mates again with Kelenic, who was optioned to Triple A on April 29 in a move that had nothing to do with him botching that April 19 fly ball and everything to do with his .167 average and .531 OPS in 23 games.
Acuña and Kelenic aren’t likely to be Gwinnett teammates for long, since position-player rehab assignments can last a maximum of 20 days, and Acuña’s began in resounding fashion Tuesday when he played one game for the Braves’ Florida Complex Rookie League team at North Port.
#Braves lose 5-4 after blowing 4-1 lead against the Nationals. Elder was quite good again (6 IP, 5 H, 1 R), but Bummer and De Los Santos were not, nor was the infield defense. Atlanta dips back below .500 (21-22) after staying there for one game. Can still get series win Thursday
— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) May 15, 2025
It was his first game in nearly a year, and Acuña played six innings and had three at-bats, lining a home run to center field in his third time up. That surprised no one with the Braves, who are used to seeing extraordinary things from Acuña, who was a unanimous selection as 2023 National League MVP after hitting .337 with 41 homers, 106 RBIs, a majors-leading 73 stolen bases and a 1.012 OPS, all from the leadoff spot.
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The Braves eagerly await his return to right field and the top of their lineup, which could happen as soon as the next homestand – a three-game series against San Diego May 23-25 – though the Braves say there’s no timetable, and Acuña said it’s not up to him.
“I’m super excited to be back and obviously I’m just (anxious), just trying to rush back and to be able to play with the guys and rejoin the team,” he said through the translator. “And just like you said, itching to get back on the field.”
How many rehab games does he think he needs to play before he’s activated?
“I don’t know, I think you’re gonna have to ask the boss,” Acuña said, laughing.
The Braves have taken a conservative approach to Acuña’s rehabilitation for this, his second ACL surgery in four years. He tore his right ACL in July 2021, just before the All-Star break, and was back in the lineup just over 9 months later. But he experienced residual soreness throughout the 2022 season, needed occasional rest for knee inflammation, and didn’t feel confident when he rotated on the knee, which diminished his power that year.
This time, he and the Braves agreed that they would leave it to the doctors and training staff to chart a prudent rehab course and that Acuña would not push to get back ahead of schedule, even if it was hard to watch from afar as the Braves’ offense sputtered.
“That just goes back to the frustration that I was talking about,” Acuña said. “Just because I’ve never in my career really ever seen the team kind of go through that stretch of struggling. That, to me, was the most frustrating part, and not being able to help or do anything about it.”
Acuña believes the nearly three extra months to recover will make a significant difference in how he plays and how he feels.
“When I came back from the first injury, it was like I would have to DH and I would have take days off and this and that,” he said. “I think just the plan that we followed to recover from this one is going to be very beneficial. And the way I’m looking at it is, the vacation’s over.”
(Photo of Ronald Acuna Jr. from Wednesday: Brett Davis / Imagn Images)
