Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves responded bluntly to the term “unlucky” following yet another ACL tear
Outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves has had an ACL tear twice in his MLB career.
In a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this week, the 2023 NL MVP tore his left ACL while attempting to steal third base. In 2021, Acuna also sustained a ruptured right ACL.
According to Barrett Sallee of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Acuna had an intriguing response when asked if he felt “unlucky” after suffering the second such injury.
Acuna said that his surgery is scheduled for Tuesday of next week.
Prior to the injury, the 26-year-old had been slashing and was having a poor season.250/.351/.365 over 222 plate appearances with 15 RBI and four home runs.
The Braves have won without Ronald Acuna Jr. before
Strangely enough, after Acuna tore his ACL in 2021, the Braves went on to win the World Series.
Before retiring in 2021, Acuna had played 82 games. The Braves finished 88-73 and went on to win the World Series against the Houston Astros.
Naturally, that Atlanta team had excellent pitching in addition to a wealth of reliable hitters. That cannot be said of the Braves as they are now assembled, though.
With the exception of Marcell Ozuna, who has a.994 OPS, Atlanta’s lineup has not performed well. Except for Ozuna, only catcher Travis d’Arnaud has an OPS of.800 or higher among the Braves’ starting lineup. Four of the team’s regular hitters have an OPS below.700. Matt Olson, who finished first in the league with 54 home runs and 139 RBI the previous season, has also had trouble, with a slash line of.237/.324/.434.
The Braves are currently six games behind the Philadelphia Phillies (four losses) for first place in the NL East, which is a reflection of Atlanta’s offensive woes. The Braves are still very much in the running with a record of 31–22, but there are issues with this team that did not appear to exist in 2023 during the regular season, when the Braves won 104 games.
Undoubtedly, Atlanta will undoubtedly miss Acuna even more than it did in 2021.
Freddie Freeman was a highly reliable first baseman for that Braves team, and they also featured a lot of other power hitters like Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley, and Ozzie Albies.
In 2024, Riley and Albies are still players, but their performance has declined dramatically.
The good news for Atlantans is that change is most likely inevitable. The Braves can rely on their strong starting pitching in the meantime as Olson, Riley, and Albies likely approach their career averages as the season goes on.
Acuna has a.289/.379/.525 lifetime slash line to his name. Last season, he slashed.337/.416/.596 with 41 long balls and 106 RBI, marking the finest year of his career. It should come as no surprise that he won MVP since he also stole 73 bases, which led the league.
In July 2014, the Braves signed the 26-year-old as an international free agent. In 2018, he made his big-league debut and dominated.293/.366/.552 with 487 trips to the dish, 26 dingers, and 64 RBI. The next year, he crushed forty-one home runs.
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