The Atlanta Braves should be concerned about Ronald Acuña’s injury, as they’re down two heavy hitters in the lineup with Marcell Ozuna also out.
Acuña was diagnosed with a Grade 1 quad strain. Without him, Atlanta’s offense struggled, losing 4-1 to the divisional rival Phillies.
The outfielder is expected to sit out at least one more game with the injury, but this points to a larger issue. It’s the way Acuña plays that constantly has him on or near the injured list.
The Braves star only has one speed. It’s part of what makes him great and one of the faces of the game, but it’s also what puts him at constant threat of injury.
Braves: Brian Snitker was right about Ronald Acuña
Brian Snitker acknowledged that the team spoke with Acuña at some point last season about trying to take thing slow with his rehab, and in his return from injury. The manager also admitted the team might just have to get used to Acuña making a few IL stints every year:
“Yeah, because he plays with his hair on fire. He plays the thing hard. He’s done a really good job managing the (comeback from a knee injury), too. He’s gotten hot, he’s on base a lot, he wants to run, making plays in the outfield. Probably as he gets older and matures, he’ll probably need to scale back some of that a little bit because of the wear and tear on his body,” Snitker told The Athletic.
As for Acuña, he doesn’t plan on slowing down:
“I think the best thing I can do is to keep playing the way I play the game,” said Acuña. “If I try to do anything different, it would just diminish the game and it would diminish the way I play.”
As much as the Braves may need Acuña in the short-term, as long as his long-term health is not at play, he seems fine taking the risk.
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