Ronald Acuña Jr. out for season with ACL tear in crushing Braves injury blow
The Braves had already lost their ace this season, and on Sunday they lost the reigning National League MVP for the rest of the year, too.
Ronald Acuña Jr., who exited their game after a non-contact injury that occurred while running the bases, suffered a torn ACL — according to the results of an MRI exam — and will have surgery that will sideline him for the rest of the 2024 season, the team announced.
While leading off second in the first inning, Acuña took a hard step on his secondary lead before twisting and falling to the ground in pain when he turned to head back to the base.
It marked the second torn ACL of Acuña’s career, as he tore the ligament in his right knee during the 2021 season. The outfielder also sustained a sprained left ACL in 2018.
Originally, in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s 8-1 win against the Pirates when Acuña spoke to reporters at his locker, he compared it to his injury six years ago — when he missed 28 games but returned to win Rookie of the Year.
“Hopefully, everything’s gonna go well this time,” Acuña told reporters through an interpreter, while also acknowledging that he was scared in the moment because of pain that eventually subsided.
But just hours later, the outlook changed.
The Braves won the World Series in 2021 without Acuña in their lineup, and they have 112 games left to figure out how to secure a spot in the postseason — and then go on another run — without the 26-year-old.
“Sorry,” Acuña wrote Sunday night in a post on X, with a broken heart emoji and sleepy face emoji added to the end.
Acuña hit .246 with a .704 OPS across 48 games this year for a Braves team that already lost starting pitcher Spencer Strider to season-ending UCL surgery and currently sits six games behind the Phillies in the NL East.
Strider, who led MLB with 20 wins and 281 strikeouts during the 2023 regular season, made just two starts this year and left the second one with elbow discomfort.
This time, the lineup will need adjusting.
The outfield will need adjusting.
Before the season even reached its midway point, Atlanta’s quest for a seventh consecutive division title hit another major obstacle.
