March 5: The Braves introduced this morning that Dr. ElAttrache confirmed the staff’s prognosis of irritation in Acuna’s proper meniscus. The staff nonetheless expects the reigning NL MVP to be prepared for Opening Day and additional introduced Tuesday morning that Acuna will “steadily enhance baseball actions” as he builds towards that purpose.
March 2: An MRI revealed that Ronald Acuna Jr. has some irritation in his proper meniscus, based on a number of Braves beat writers (together with the Atlanta Journal-Structure’s Justin Toscano). Acuna is anticipated to be prepared for Opening Day, although he’ll go to Dr. Neal ElAttrache in two days for additional examination of his knee.
Every part appears precautionary at this level, and naturally Acuna and the Braves need to be as cautious as attainable given Acuna’s damage historical past. Acuna suffered a torn proper ACL in July 2021 and didn’t return to motion till late April 2022, with Acuna’s comparatively down numbers (.266/.351/.413 over 533 plate appearances) through the 2022 season indicating that he wasn’t fairly again to one hundred pc after the lengthy layoff.
Evidently, Acuna was again in full type for an all-timer of a 2023 season. The outfielder hit .337/.416/.596 with 41 homers and league-leading totals in hits (217), runs (149), and stolen bases (73). With the latter statistic, Acuna grew to become the primary participant in baseball historical past to hit 40 homers and steal at the very least 50 bases in a season. Acuna was a unanimous selection as NL MVP final November, and the Cooperstown trajectory is in view contemplating that Acuna remains to be solely 26 years outdated.
Extra can be recognized about Acuna’s standing after his seek the advice of Monday, and it might be that the meniscus subject certainly simply prices Acuna a little bit of Spring Coaching time. There stands an opportunity that Acuna is likely to be positioned on the 10-day injured checklist to start the season if Atlanta feels he wants a bit of additional ramp-up time to make up for the misplaced spring work, which might open the door for Forrest Wall, J.P. Martinez, Eli White, or non-roster invitations Jordan Luplow or Luis Liberato for some early-season taking part in time. The Braves’ lineup is so stacked that lacking even a celebrity of Acuna’s caliber wouldn’t be a giant downside within the brief time period, however clearly the staff wants Acuna absolutely prepared because it pursues its second World Sequence title in 4 years.