CLEVELAND — He’s back.
After missing a little more than two weeks due to a Grade 1 right calf strain, the Atlanta Braves reinstated Ronald Acuña Jr. from the injured list prior to Friday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians. Catcher Sandy León was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett as the corresponding move.
While Acuña won’t be joining a team in the middle of the postseason race, the former National League MVP will be looking to pick up where he left off prior to going on the shelf, as he’s slashed .306/.429/.577 with 14 home runs and 26 RBIs in 55 games this year.
The injury, which was initially diagnosed as an Achilles issue, was expected to keep him out for two to three weeks. Acuña returned after a little more than two weeks without going on a rehab assignment.
The 27-year-old missed the first month of the season while rehabbing from last year’s ACL injury. After winning the National League MVP in 2023 on the back of the first 40/70 season in MLB history, he’s only played in 104 games since the start of 2024. He also tore his right ACL in 2021.
While Acuña doesn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for the Baseball Savant leaderboard, his advanced statistics are all in line with how they were prior to last year’s injury. He currently ranks in the 69th percentile in sprint speed and has stolen four bases in five attempts.
Although there’s never a good time to lose a player of Acuña’s caliber, the Braves posted a winning record without him (8-7) thanks to strong play from some of the players in their lineup who had been scuffling.
They’ll all get a boost thanks to the addition of Acuña, who is second on the team in bWAR (2.6) despite only playing in less than half of the Braves’ games.
