When Ronald Acuña Jr returned from his first ACL injury in 2022, it was clear almost immediately he was not the same guy who was the best player in baseball the first half of 2021. And we wouldn’t see that guy again until Acuña had a full offseason, a full spring training, and a fully healthy regular season, all which happened in 2023, which led to him unanimously winning the NL MVP that season. So when Acuña tore his second ACL in May of 2024, it was clear he was going to return in 2025, but it wasn’t
clear which version of him would return in 2025.
The team was also aware of this. President of Baseball Operations Alex Anthopoulos mentioned several times over the offseason how slowly and cautiously they were going to proceed with Acuña this time around, even proclaiming almost immediately that he would not be ready for Opening Day 2025 despite suffering his injury almost two full months earlier in the calendar than the first time. They were going to take it slow, let Acuña get his legs fully underneath him, hoping to avoid a similar scenario where the guy was back but not THE GUY.
And to their credit, they held to their word. Despite Acuña coming into Spring Training already feeling great according to him, they waited and waited and brought him along slowly. Not only did he not participate in any meaningful way in Spring Training, they didn’t send him out on rehab assignment until May 13th when he went down to the Florida Coast League. It was the 6 rehab games he played between the FCL and the Gwinnett Stripers where Acuña showed he was at a different level than he was the first time around. In 6 minor league games Acuña amazingly hit 2 homers, 2 doubles, 2 singles, and drew 7 walks for a 279 wRC+ and made it crystal clear he was fully, and completely ready.
So on May 23rd the Braves called him up and on the first pitch he saw in the majors in almost a full calendar year, he did this:
One pitch and 467 feet later and Acuña made what was already apparent crystal clear, there would be no gap year this time. THE GUY was back.
Despite a recent slump, Acuña has come back and looked like the 2023 MVP all over again. Overall he has a 146 wRC+ in the 77 games he’s been back with an 16.7% walk rate and a .387 xwOBA. His average exit velocity is 92.3 mph, one of the best in the sport, a 15% barrel rate, one of the best in the sport, and 77 mph bat speed, again one of the best in the sport. The results, the expected results, the patience, the power, it’s all been there basically from day one. He is back up to his normal 25% strikeout rate, which isn’t necessarily unexpected. What he did in 2023, cutting his strikeout rate in half while sacrificing zero power is arguably one of the greatest things I’ve ever witnessed over a full baseball season and it’s tough to say that’s ever happening again. But with his walks and his power, you can win MVP with a 25% K-rate so it’s nothing concerning.
The defense is what it is at this point. He’s always been a tremendous athlete but never been a natural outfielder where he just instinctively gets amazing jumps on every fly ball. He gets below average jumps and therefore will always pay with below average range, even with his speed, so the defensive metrics and him are never going to get along too much. The arm is still everything it ever was, but the league has basically stopped even trying to run on him anymore, so it’s value is mostly tied in the bases opponents don’t even try to take vs actively throwing runners out.
But he looks like Ronald Acuña Jr, and even though the Braves haven’t had the overall season they wanted, far from it, one of the most encouraging developments has been their best player looks like their players again. And after tearing a second ACL, that wasn’t always just a given to happen. We needed to see it to understand what level of players the Braves have in RF. Well they still have an MVP caliber player.
It’s one less thing to have to worry about in an off-season where Anthopoulos is going to have plenty to worry about.
