Earlier today, the Atlanta Braves moved both Tyler Kinley and Ronald Acuña Jr. to the IL in a pair of separate roster moves. Acuña’s injury is the most recent one for what’s turning into a serious concern when it comes to him and lower-body injuries and now we have a clearer idea of what was going on with him as he attempted to leg out an infield single against the White Sox.
He’s officially been diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain. Wiley Ballard of BravesVision reported the severity of the injury along
with the fact that there’s currently no stated timeline for a return for Acuña.
I will just copy and paste what I wrote in last month’s article on Acuña’s first hamstring strain of 2026 concerning the prognosis for this particular grade of strain:
Of course, how long Acuña ends up being out depends on the severity of the strain. If it’s a Grade 1 strain then this should just be a straight-up 10-day stint on the IL. We know it’s probably not a Grade 3 strain since that likely would’ve qualified as a tear and Grade 2 might require a somewhat extended absence with a rehab stint involved. So yeah, here’s hoping that it’s just Grade 1 since that wouldn’t be too awful — and also another truly severe leg injury the last thing Acuña needs in his career at the moment.
Acuña ended up missing just over two weeks during his last go-around on the IL and I’d imagine that it’ll be another two weeks until we see him again. Although both Acuña and Walt Weiss have insisted that this time isn’t as bad or painful as the first time, I think that they’re going to give Acuña plenty of time to rest and heal up in order to get back onto the field while trying their best to ensure that he’s not just right back on the IL in July.
While I’m sure that Acuña will be champing at the bit to get healthy again, it’s probably for the best to just give him as much time as he needs to really heal up instead of rushing him back. Things would be different if the Braves weren’t in their current position position of dominance in the NL East and the National League as a whole. They’re nine games ahead of the Phillies for the divisional lead and two games ahead of the Dodgers for the best record in the NL. While we’d all like to see the Braves keep putting pedal to the metal, if they can get Acuña some rest that could potentially ensure that he’s ready to go for the latter portion of the season (and hopefully the Postseason as well) then I don’t think anybody can argue against that at this point.
It’s a long season and sometimes you’ve got to play the long game, so the best course of action might be to give Acuña time to rest and heal up to where he’s completely 100% ready to go. Hopefully that doesn’t take too long but there’s no need to rush it. The frustration is palpable but it’s manageable.
