NORTH PORT, Fla. — After reporting right knee soreness, Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. went for further evaluation, manager Brian Snitker said after Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Orioles at CoolToday Park.
Snitker said Acuña – who was scratched from Friday’s lineup “as a precaution,” the Braves said – might’ve started feeling the soreness after he got caught in a rundown between second base and third base in Thursday’s contest. It was unclear who evaluated Acuña, what testing he underwent and where he had it done.
“They’re gonna check him out,” Snitker said. “I don’t think it’ll be anything. It’s probably one of those things that if it was during the season, he’d play. But still, we wanted to get it looked at, if it was enough that he said something.”
By the time the Braves announced he was scratched from the lineup, Acuña had left the Braves’ spring training facility.
The Braves plan to have an update on Acuña’s evaluation on Saturday.
“He’s getting it looked at right now,” Snitker said after Friday’s game. “Just to make sure.”
On Saturday, the Braves will play the Blue Jays in Dunedin, which is about a couple hours from their North Port facility. Acuña almost certainly wouldn’t have traveled for that game if he were healthy.
But will he play on Sunday in North Port?
“I don/t know,” Snitker said. “It might be a couple days. If a guy misses one, he’s probably gonna need to miss two or three just to make sure we’re getting rid of it.”
Acuña has played in three spring training games thus far. His last one came Thursday.
Acuña’s right knee is the one that doctors repaired after he tore his ACL during the summer of 2021. The Braves managed his soreness after he returned in 2022.
He stayed healthy in 2023 en route to winning the National League MVP award. When he discussed the coming season upon arriving to North Port last month, he mentioned health as the key for him.
“The most important thing is health,” Acuña said through interpreter Franco García. “I feel like as long as I’m healthy, I’ll be able to do some special things, hopefully, in this game.”
A year ago, Acuña had the first 40-70 season – 41 home runs, 73 stolen bases – in MLB history. The Braves won a World Series without him in 2021, but he’s integral to their success.
During his historic season, Acuña played in 159 of the 162 games. Even if he experienced knee soreness in 2022, which caused the Braves to be careful with his workload, Acuña hasn’t been on the injured list since he went on it for tearing his ACL.
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