Braves president announces exciting Ronald Acuna Jr. news
The Atlanta Braves made a woeful start to the season, losing their first seven games. Injuries to key players didn't make it easy for Atlanta, but it appears the Braves are finally getting close to their potential.
They have improved to 24-24 and are set to welcome back their superstar Ronald Acuna Jr., who has missed the last 12 months of action due to an ACL tear. Acuna, who has been rehabbing in Triple-A, is expected to return to the lineup later this week.
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos provided an update on the 2023 NL MVP's potential return in a conversation with the New York Post (24:00 onwards).
"He is traveling with the minor league team, and he will be spending, at least, we don't have days per se, but you play them back-to-back days in the outfield. We'd like to get him as close to nine innings as we can in the field. We feel pretty good about his timing at the plate and at-bats.
"He's been playing in sim games and live batting practices since Spring Training opened, so this is about just getting his legs underneath him. So we'll spend the week working him through that, we'll check in daily with the staff, but you should see the workload increase starting on Tuesday. But we'll continue to see how it does, but he's getting very, very close."
Acuna's return will be a big boost for the Braves, who lost offseason acquisition Jurickson Profar to an 80-game PED suspension at the start of the season.
Braves welcome ace to the lineup as Ronald Acuna Jr.'s return edges closer
While the team is gearing up to welcome back Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves ace Spencer Strider returned to the lineup on Tuesday after missing almost a month of action.
It was Strider's second start in the last year as he missed most of last season due to elbow surgery. It wasn't a pleasant return for Strider as he lasted 4.1 innings, conceding four earned runs over six hits, slumping to 0-2 for the season.
However, with more game time under his belt, the All-Star ace is expected to get back to the form he showed in 2023.