Atlanta’s biggest pregame question got a reassuring answer on Thursday: Ronald Acuña Jr. is back in the Braves’ lineup against the Reds and batting second for the series finale in Cincinnati.
That’s the kind of update Braves fans were waiting on after Acuña Jr. fouled a ball off his shin earlier this week and sparked immediate concern. The team had already tried to ease nerves by saying scans came back clean and that he was day-to-day, but that didn’t stop the uneasy feeling that another late-season injury could threaten Atlanta’s playoff push.
Before Wednesday’s game, manager Walt Weiss said Acuña Jr. had been out of the lineup, but also noted that the outfielder had come very close to persuading him to play. That was a good sign, though the real relief only comes once Acuña Jr. is actually back on the field.
Now he is.
Acuña Jr.’s return is encouraging, but it doesn’t automatically mean he’s fully over the issue. The next thing to watch is how he moves - how he runs the bases and how he gets to fly balls - before anyone gets too comfortable.
Still, getting him into the lineup at this point is a meaningful boost. It gives him a chance to collect more reps before the postseason and sharpen up, and it comes against a pitcher Atlanta has had success against before in Brady Singer.
There are no guarantees from here. Nobody knows yet whether Acuña Jr. will immediately look like himself again after the foul-ball scare. But for now, the Braves have reason to breathe a little easier, and the early alarm around his injury looks justified in hindsight.
In Other News...
Braves Playoff Rotation Just Lost A Starter At The Worst Time
The Braves playoff rotation took a hit at the worst possible time Monday, when the club announced that Martn Prez is headed to the injured list with lower back inflammation. It is a late setback for a team trying to line up its pitching for October, and it leaves Atlanta with less breathing room than it wanted as the postseason gets underway.
Prez was in position to matter in the NL Wild Card Series, and his absence also carries over into the NLDS if the Braves advance. With only a short window to adjust, Atlanta now has to rethink how it wants to piece together its early-round pitching plans while waiting to see how the rotation picture settles. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Could Dangle Big Names To Fix A Roster Problem
The Braves have already wrapped up the NL East, but the work ahead in Atlanta is likely to be less about celebrating the division title and more about figuring out how to smooth out a roster issue that has lingered beneath the surface. With an offseason in front of them, the front office could have to weigh whether the cleanest path to improvement means moving from a position of depth or from a few recognizable names who still carry real value in the market.
Alex Lodise, Cam Caminiti, Eric Hartman, Ozzie Albies, Spencer Strider and Reynaldo Lopez are among the players mentioned as possible trade candidates, and each brings a different mix of recent performance and contract considerations that could shape how other clubs view them. For the Braves, the calculation is less about attaching a label to any one player and more about deciding which pieces are most useful in solving the problem at hand without weakening the core that got them back to the top of the division. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Leave Cincinnati With One Big October Concern
The Braves spent a weekend in Cincinnati with little left to decide in the standings, but plenty to monitor as October approaches. Ronald Acua Jr. left with a shin contusion, though the early tests came back clean, and Atlanta also got a mixed bag on the field with a shutout loss, a narrow extra-innings win and another close defeat. There were bright spots along the way, including work from pitchers JR Ritchie and Chris Sale, plus contributions from Matt Olson and Austin Riley, but the bigger picture was less about the record than about how the group is holding up.
For a club that already has its division and postseason position locked in, the final tune-ups are about health and rhythm, and Acuas status now sits at the center of that conversation. The Braves do not need to chase anything in the standings, which makes every late-game decision and every awkward step on the bases feel a little more important than usual, especially with October closing in and the margin for error shrinking in a different way. [Read more 🡒]