The 2023 NL MVP is nearly back on a field for the first time in almost a year. The return of Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. is imminent, per Braves manager Brian Snitker. In fact, it’ll happen within the next few days.
“It’ll be sooner than later now,” Snitker said Thursday (via AJC.com).
Another indication that Acuña is nearly back is that he isn’t playing for Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday night. The general vibe here points to his return on Friday.
Let’s take a look at the situation from the perspective of both Acuña and the Braves.
Acuña’s rehab and return
Acuña, of course, tore the ACL in his left knee last May 26 and underwent surgery to repair it. It was back in 2021 when he tore his right ACL. That happened in July and he returned on April 28, 2022. This time around, the Braves and Acuña are taking a lot more time in his recovery and rehab to avoid any setbacks or poor play upon his return.
Back in 2022, Acuña had the statistical worst season of his career to that point. He played in 119 games, but only accumulated 2.3 WAR while slashing .266/.351/.413, good for a career-worst 112 OPS+. Prior to that season, he had a career OPS+ of 138 and averaged 6.1 WAR for every 162 games played.
Then in 2023, Acuña was one of the best players in baseball. He hit .337/.416/.596 (171 OPS+) with 35 doubles, four triples, 41 home runs, 106 RBI, 149 runs, 73 stolen bases and 8.4 WAR, winning the NL MVP.
He was off to a pretty bad start by his standards in 2024, but it was only 49 games.
With his arrival after ACL surgery happening almost a year later instead of the roughly nine months in 2022, the Braves are hoping for a lot closer to 2023 than 2022 out of Acuña.
During his rehab stint in the minors, he’s crushing the ball, too. In five games for Triple-A Gwinnett, Acuña is 5 for 12 with two doubles, a home run, seven walks and two strikeouts.
Braves dig a hole, partially climb out
On the Braves’ end, they certainly appeared to miss Acuña for the rest of 2024 in addition to the start of 2025. After May 26 last season, they went 59-53, which is a totally fine record for a playoff team. They won 104 games in the 2023 regular season, though, and losing Acuña accounts for at least part of the 2024 shortfall.
This season, the Braves started 0-7 and then 5-13. It’s hard telling how much of a difference Acuña would have made, but when he’s fully healthy, he’s one of the top offensive weapons in baseball.
The Braves have since righted the ship. Since April 16, they’ve gone 19-11, finally pulling themselves above .500 for the first time all season with a win last Friday.
Still, they entered Thursday 6.5 games out of first in the NL East and are not currently in playoff position in an incredibly tough National League. Eight teams have a better record with two more right on their heels.
Moving forward
The Braves have 113 games remaining this season after Thursday. Getting to 90 wins is probably a reasonable goal that is both attainable and would likely get them into the playoffs. They’ll need to go 65-48 the rest of the way for that to happen, which is a .575 winning percentage (a full-season pace of 93 wins, which is definitely doable for a team of the Braves’ talent level).
Some of the issues from the early season have already started to turn. Chris Sale and A.J. Smith-Shawver have been outstanding in the rotation along with quality contributions from Spencer Schwellenbach and Bryce Elder. Spencer Strider is back off the injured list now for the second time and, presumably, he’ll start throwing well soon.
Matt Olson has started to look like himself with the power stroke. The return of Sean Murphy has been a boon for the offense while Marcell Ozuna is hitting well overall. Drake Baldwin has been an unexpected godsend and Eli White has helped pick up the slack.
Austin Riley is having a bit of a power outage. Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies need to be better with the bat.
The good news for the Braves is not only does the return of Acuña make a direct impact on the lineup, as, obviously, getting a player of his caliber back in the lineup provides a big boost. The impact can indirectly help others, too, as a deeper offense causes problems for opposing pitchers that resonate throughout the entire lineup. That is to say that we shouldn’t be surprised in a few weeks to see Acuña’s return coinciding with players like Riley, Harris and Albies getting hot.
In all, the Braves need to do some good work moving forward, but they are well-equipped to do so.
