The Braves announced to reporters, including Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. will start a rehab assignment in the Complex League tomorrow. He will be playing the outfield and will be monitored for a potential transfer to Triple-A Gwinnett at some point. The club also announced that right-hander Spencer Strider will throw a simulated game on Wednesday, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The plan is for Strider to throw 70 to 75 pitches before a decision is made about whether to send him on a rehab assignment or simply reinstate him from the injured list.
The news is obviously quite welcome for Atlanta fans. The injuries to the two players have been hampering the club for almost all of the past year-plus. Strider required UCL surgery in the middle of April last year. Just over a month later, Acuña suffered a torn left ACL. The club limped through the rest of the season without those two, qualifying for a Wild Card spot in the final game of the season. They were quickly swept by the Padres in the Wild Card round.
Here in 2025, things have gotten out to a rough start. Strider was reinstated from the IL last month but made just one start before a hamstring strain put him back on the shelf. Jurickson Profar, signed in the offseason to bolster the outfield in Acuña’s absence, played just four games before receiving an 80-game PED suspension. Reynaldo López made just one start before requiring arthroscopic shoulder surgery and is going to be out for several months.
Around all of those speedbumps, Atlanta has managed to somewhat tread water, currently sporting a 19-21 record. The upcoming returns of both Acuña and Strider should improve their chances of climbing in the standings going forward.
When last healthy, Acuña was on top of the world. He was the Most Valuable Player in the National League in 2023. He hit 41 home runs and stole 73 bases that season, producing a .337/.416/.596 batting line and 171 wRC+. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 9.1 wins above replacement while Baseball Reference had him at 8.4. That was all the more impressive because he had recovered from a previous ACL tear in his right knee.
His initial return from that injury, suffered in June of 2021, was more good than great. He was reinstated from the IL in April of 2022 and then hit .266/.351/.413 for a 115 wRC+ that year. But in 2023, he was firing on all cylinders and was one of the best players in the world.
It’s anyone’s guess which version of Acuña will show up this year. With his previous ACL tear, he was eventually able to get back to MVP-level performance, but with a half-decent season in between. Now that he has suffered tears in both ACLs, it’s hard to say what’s ahead, but it shouldn’t take too much longer to find out. Rehab assignments for position players can last as long as 20 days. Even if Acuña uses that entire timeline, he’ll be back by early June, unless he suffers a setback of some kind.
When he does return, the club will have to decide which player loses playing time. Eli White is currently holding down Acuña’s right field spot. He has a .284/.333/.506 line and 127 wRC+, but is getting some help from a .350 batting average on balls in play. He could drop into a fourth outfielder role but left fielder Alex Verdugo has a .241/.300/.325 line and 76 wRC+ on the year, comparable to his poor season with the Yankees in 2024, so perhaps White could slide over to left and take some time there.
As for Strider, it seems there’s a chance he could be back as soon as a week from now, if the sim game goes well. Even if he does go on a rehab assignment, it might be a brief one. Whenever he’s healthy, he should slot next to Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach and AJ Smith-Shawver in the rotation. Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes are currently in the mix but both have ERAs close to 5.00. Elder has a tepid strikeout rate but a good walk rate while Holmes has been getting more punchouts but also giving out more free passes.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
I should not have drafted this guy in fantasy
If he comes back healthy and is himself, all the fair-weather Braves fans posting here will note how much smarter Brian Snitker has gotten in his 50th year.
Not this guy…Snit cost us the game yesterday. Iglesias was pitching but I still put the blame 99% on Snit, we all knew what was about to happen smh.
Iglesias is brutally bad. Everyone knows that except the Braves
That was a brutal managers decision. Walk a guy to face a guy who has 6 hits in his last 7 at bats knowing any contact and the game could be over.. The one out was a line drive over a 100mph off the bat snagged by the short stop.
If anything, Samuel shouldn’t talk about “fair-weather” fans when he switches his fandoms of MLB teams as much as the amount of times he talks about the rotisserie leagues he hates.
Snit makes lots of questionable decisions but I would point out his unorthodox moves have (baseline results) led to a 5-0 record in extra innings. I can’t blame him over Iglesias. There is only so much you can do. He seemed to be pitching better at one point. It’s tough. You need him long term. Relievers go thru spells. The offense is the main problem.
Snit cost them the game today. The second he took Elder out at 82 pitches to bring in….Aaron Bummer, I thought it would backfire. He is just not a reliable reliever so far this year. His numbers were okay but he is very often brought in in the middle of innings so the era is not very telling. An early game tomorrow and a long stretch without an off day has a it talking about trying to save the pen yet when he has a chance he doesn’t take it. This was a 3 run game. Not a one run game. Against the Nationals.
And for all the people talking up Bummer over the last year plus I would just say if you actually watch him pitch he rarely locates. His peripherals are good largely because he is everything the stats look for. Strikeouts. Low walks. No homers. And high grounder rate. He throws strikes they just are rarely where the catcher sets up.
It’s just a matter of time before the poster, TradeAcuna pipes in saying we need to trade Ronald
@sky – Given that it is his raison d’etre…
Will there be a standoff when he meets Kelenic in AAA?
We enjoy baseball more when Ronald is playing
Man I am so proud of AJ Smith shawver! It’s crazy that he leads all of our starters in ERA! If he keeps pitching the way that he has, there will need to be a serious conversation about potentially being ROY, if not at least in the running for it!
The ironic thing is Acuña will be ROY.
I’m all for it, he’s played great! But aj should at least be in the conversation for ROY as well if he maintains this level of pitching the rest of the way!
No doubt. He’s a really good pitcher and getting better.
If so, Acuna’s got a lot of work to d0. Drake Baldwin is currently tied w/Chad Patrick in WAR @ 1.0. Best mark for all NL rookies. Baldwin has appeared in only 25 of 42 games—-6 of them as a pinch hitter. Doesn’t matter what numbers you use, he’s crushing Acuna’s—-by a lot in 38 less ab’s. Triple slash, wRC+, all traditional and advanced stats—–Baldwin is clearly the superior bat. It’s not even close. Acuna has Baldwin—-catcher, of course—– on speed and base running value. That’s it.
Something that’s kinda crazy is that 4 of the top 5 ROY candidates in the NL so far this year are from the NL East! Agustin Ramirez of the Marlins top the betting odds, followed by acuna, Dylan crews of the nationals, roki sasaki of the dodgers, then AJ! Pretty awesome!
Y’all are just gonna skip right over Drake Baldwin? If Drake was able to get into enough games he would be the run away ROY…wouldn’t even be close. AJ has had a couple good games but that splitter worries me. He has no clue where it’s going right now. And Acuna has played okay but even in limited AB’s Baldwin has had more of an impact. Roki is probably the favorite for me if he stays healthy.
I didn’t skip over drake at all. I said how proud I was of aj’s performance, and how if he keeps it up through the rest of the season he should win it, and at the least should be considered for ROY. Also regardless of how Shakey one pitch has been, you can’t deny actual on field results. Also I listed the top 5 betting favorites for NL ROY as of right now as I seen on MLB.com. Baldwin wasn’t even mentioned most likely because of his lack of playing time. If he keeps playing the way he has, and braves management gets their heads from between their asses, and actually gives the kid consistent playing time like he deserves, then yes, most definitely, he will be considered, but also have a very good chance at completely running away with it! Being to reliant on Murphy can hurt his chances though as he simply will not have enough plate appearances and counting stats to beat out someone who has pitched 25-30 games or played in 150-162 games! I am just as happy and proud of Drake Baldwin as I am AJ! I believe we should see a timeshare at catcher like Murphy and D’arnaud had, and at this point I’d deal with ozuna’s defense in the outfield just to have Baldwin as the DH on days Murphy is catching and vice versa! Even putting Eli white in the infield potentially as well just to make it happen and keep all the hot hands going at the same time! I’m a braves fan lmao why wouldn’t I be happy and proud for them? Either way we have two very awesome, talented and even potentially multiple all star franchise type players to build around for quite a while, and the sky is the limit for both of them! The braves have played like crap this year, but we’re finally .500 again and both aj, and drake are huge reasons why! With acuna and strider returning, and with continued great play by our rookies, and continued amazingly unexpected contributions from players like white, verdugo, and even Allen, this team is primed to eventually go on a run that will put us right in the middle of the playoff hunt! Our pitching staff has been lights out lately, and if our offense can get going like everybody knows they have the potential to do, everybody in the league better take notice!
@ChipperChop: Roki’s been awful. Also went on the IL yesterday due to shoulder pain. Only reason he’s even listed in ROY betting odds is because he plays for a big market team. You’re right on Baldwin. He’s already tied for the WAR lead for NL rookies despite playing in only 25 of 42 games. 6 of those were just pinch hit ab’s. He keeps pushing Murphy for playing time. Murphy’s bat has cratered —again—in May. The Braves terrible offense needs Baldwin getting as many ab’s as possible.
He had a big game after this conversation started but yes he’s definitely in the running especially if he gets more abs.
@Braves_saints_celts: As much as I hate watching Allen hit, I’m not sure that White’s bat would offset the loss of defense if he replaced Allen at SS. Allen’s leading MLB in OOA. His premium defense is a big reason the pitching has kept the Braves afloat while the pitiful offense has floundered. The May offensive numbers are too horrific to talk about.
@Mets: Yeah more ab’s are key for him. Going to be tough for him to compete for ROY if he plays in less than 100 games this season. Fangraphs and ZIPS have him projected to get in 97 games w/about 400 ab’s this year. He’s on pace for about that as far as games go, but less than the 400-415 ab’s if the Braves maintain his current level of appearances.
They are definitely going to find ways to have him in the lineup every night if he continues to rake.
It would be a huge boost to Atlanta if Acuña and Strider can come back full strength.
Have we heard Ronald’s feelings on how the Bravos would handle things differently if it were Olsen, Murphy, or even Freddie going out on rehab?
Ronald “pimping” a HR in complex league today.lol. but I’m sure it felt good to be in a game again.
At least you still found a way to make yourself the victim again. Great job!
Build his value and get rid of him. This season is lost.
You are late!
I see you are liking your own post
I am confused by reynaldo lopez long time table. They said the arthoscopic procedure was exploratory and found no injury. Kinda makes it seem like he got his work done by a civil war doc or they did not tell us the truth for some reason.
I had the same shoulder surgery that Lopez had and I had full range of motion in two months but again I’m not throwing a fast ball but I would assume he should be back at least by August if not before
I hope he comes back as Ben Raken!
Holmes more accustomed to relief work, but I would just go with a six-man rotation. They don’t have any days off coming up and starters have been working their arses off the last couple weeks and sale’s old and AJSS is green.