Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. suffered a completely torn left ACL throughout at this time’s sport, because the Braves introduced following an MRI examination tonight. Acuna will bear surgical procedure and miss the rest of the 2024 season.
Acuna was taking a lead off second base throughout the first inning of at this time’s 8-1 Atlanta win over the Pirates when he faked a potential steal try with a transfer in the direction of third base. Nevertheless, Acuna’s left leg twisted underneath him and he fell to the bottom in apparent ache. Talking with reporters after the sport, Acuna stated that he didn’t really feel a pop in his knee and expressed hope which may maybe miss only a month of motion if his knee was solely strained, however sadly the MRI has revealed the worst-case state of affairs for the star outfielder.
That is the key knee surgical procedure of Acuna’s profession, as he beforehand tore his proper ACL on July 10, 2021. He was in a position to return to motion faster than anticipated and was again within the Braves lineup by the tip of April 2022, although it didn’t look like he was fairly again in full type, as Acuna batted a comparatively underwhelming .266/.351/.413 over 533 plate appearances that season.
With a full and regular offseason of prep and restoration over the winter of 2022-23, Acuna bounced again with not simply his finest season, however among the best all-around seasons within the historical past of the game. Acuna was a unanimous alternative as NL MVP after hitting .337/.416/.596 with 41 homers and 73 stolen bases (in 87 makes an attempt). This made Acuna the primary participant to ever have a 40-50 season, not to mention establishing the 40-60 and 40-70 golf equipment besides.
That kind of season would’ve been a tricky act to comply with for anybody, however Acuna was hitting solely .246/.348/356 over 221 PA heading into what ended up as his ultimate sport of the 2024 marketing campaign. Acuna’s barrel charges have been nonetheless above common however nicely beneath his profession norms, and each his dwelling run complete (4) and his total energy numbers sharply dropped. He additionally reverted again to his pre-2023 free-swinging methods, after he was one among baseball’s hardest hitters to strike out final season.
We’ll now by no means know if Acuna may’ve shaken off this sluggish begin, as he’s going through one more brutally lengthy absence from the Braves lineup. Since Acuna suffered an entire tear in his ACL, his restoration figures to be on the longer aspect of the same old 7-10 month timeframe for such surgical procedures. This could nonetheless put him in line to return by Opening Day 2025, although it appears fairly potential Acuna and the Braves may discover an extended rehab this time on condition that it’s Acuna’s second ACL tear, and since his earlier comparatively fast return in 2022 appeared to end in nagging knee soreness and his comparatively lackluster numbers.
Extra will likely be recognized about Acuna’s restoration timeline within the coming weeks and months, however the backside line is that the information is devastating on all fronts for Acuna, the Braves, and for MLB itself in dropping a signature star. Acuna nonetheless doesn’t flip 27 till December, and but whereas he has loads of time to proceed constructing on what looks as if a Cooperstown-worthy profession, it’s anybody’s guess if he’ll have the ability to once more recapture his previous type after ACL surgical procedures on each knees.
The Braves overcame Acuna’s earlier ACL damage to launch an unlikely run to the 2021 World Collection crown. Atlanta selected to double down on its try to remain within the playoff race by including 4 outfielders (Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario, Joc Pederson, and Adam Duvall) previous to the commerce deadline, and the complete quartet stepped as much as assist carry the staff within the the rest of the common season and throughout the postseason. Soler even received World Collection MVP honors and Rosario was the NLCS MVP, cementing Alex Anthopoulos’ daring determination to reload reasonably than not surrender on the season within the wake of dropping Acuna.
With this in thoughts, it’s unattainable to say that Acuna’s newest damage will doom Atlanta’s probabilities in 2024, even when president of baseball operations Anthopoulos now faces one other difficult path to constructing a championship staff. Although the Braves are six video games behind the Phillies for the NL East lead, Atlanta’s 30-20 document offers them a snug five-game edge for the highest NL wild card berth, and it actually appears to be like like a return to the postseason within the playing cards. That is regardless of middling seasons from many of the Braves’ lineup (save Marcell Ozuna and Travis d’Arnaud), Sean Murphy lacking virtually the complete season with an indirect pressure, and workers ace Spencer Strider present process a season-ending surgical procedure of his personal with an inside brace process.
For the reason that Braves nonetheless went for it in 2021 regardless of a sub-.500 document at the beginning of August, they are going to clearly nonetheless be all-in on a title now given their team-record payroll and one among baseball’s most enviable collections of long-term expertise. Jarred Kelenic and Adam Duvall have been splitting time in left subject so both may shift over to proper subject in the intervening time, or Atlanta may simply persist with the left subject platoon and look to search out one other full-time substitute on the commerce market. Making an early strike in a commerce might be expensive for Anthopoulos, but he may look to duplicate 2021 by including a number of outfielders in considerably lower-tier offers.
If the Braves actually needed to get the band again collectively, Rosario (now with the Nationals) figures to be out there as a deadline rental and Pederson may be the identical if the Diamondbacks can’t get again into rivalry. By way of inside assist, Atlanta’s tendency to hardly ever relaxation its starters signifies that Acuna, Kelenic, Duvall, Michael Harris II, and (with one inning in proper subject) Forrest Wall are the one gamers who’ve gotten any work within the Braves outfield all season. Wall, J.P. Martinez, and Luke Williams are all at Triple-A and on the 40-man roster, plus Eli White and Skye Bolt are amongst just a few different Triple-A outfield choices with Main League expertise. Newly-acquired utilityman Zack Quick has additionally gotten a while within the nook outfield throughout his profession and figures to be a part of this combine as nicely.
Whereas there will likely be no scarcity of commerce hypothesis surrounding the Braves heading into the July 30 deadline, the plain truth is that there is no such thing as a solution to actually substitute Acuna, his 2024 struggles however. Dropping Acuna for the season places much more strain on Atlanta’s different bats to get on observe, and on the membership’s pitching workers to proceed its strong work. The Braves’ try at a seventh consecutive division title is already in jeopardy due to the Phillies’ sizzling begin, and with out Acuna, it is going to be rather more tough for the Braves to navigate their means again to the World Collection.
Photograph courtesy of USA At this time Sports activities Photos
