The Braves introduced to reporters, together with Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. will begin a rehab project within the Advanced League Tuesday. He shall be taking part in the outfield and shall be monitored for a possible switch to Triple-A Gwinnett sooner or later. The membership additionally introduced that right-hander Spencer Strider will throw a simulated sport on Wednesday, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The plan is for Strider to throw 70 to 75 pitches earlier than a call is made about whether or not to ship him on a rehab project or just reinstate him from the injured checklist.
The information is clearly fairly welcome for Atlanta followers. The accidents to the 2 gamers have been hampering the membership for nearly the entire previous year-plus. Strider required UCL surgical procedure in the course of April final 12 months. Simply over a month later, Acuña suffered a torn left ACL. The membership limped by means of the remainder of the season with out these two, qualifying for a Wild Card spot within the ultimate sport of the season. They had been shortly swept by the Padres within the Wild Card spherical.
Right here in 2025, issues have gotten out to a tough begin. Strider was reinstated from the IL final month however made only one begin earlier than a hamstring pressure put him again on the shelf. Jurickson Profar, signed within the offseason to bolster the outfield in Acuña’s absence, performed simply 4 video games earlier than receiving an 80-game PED suspension. Reynaldo López made only one begin earlier than requiring arthroscopic shoulder surgical procedure and goes to be out for a number of months.
Round all of these speedbumps, Atlanta has managed to considerably tread water, at the moment sporting a 19-21 report. The upcoming returns of each Acuña and Strider ought to enhance their probabilities of climbing within the standings going ahead.
When final wholesome, Acuña was on high of the world. He was the Most Worthwhile Participant within the Nationwide League in 2023. He hit 41 residence runs and stole 73 bases that season, producing a .337/.416/.596 batting line and 171 wRC+. FanGraphs thought of him to be price 9.1 wins above alternative whereas Baseball Reference had him at 8.4. That was all of the extra spectacular as a result of he had recovered from a earlier ACL tear in his proper knee.
His preliminary return from that damage, suffered in June of 2021, was extra good than nice. He was reinstated from the IL in April of 2022 after which hit .266/.351/.413 for a 115 wRC+ that 12 months. However in 2023, he was firing on all cylinders and was probably the greatest gamers on this planet.
It’s anybody’s guess which model of Acuña will present up this 12 months. Along with his earlier ACL tear, he was finally in a position to get again to MVP-level efficiency, however with a half-decent season in between. Now that he has suffered tears in each ACLs, it’s exhausting to say what’s forward, but it surely shouldn’t take an excessive amount of longer to seek out out. Rehab assignments for place gamers can final so long as 20 days. Even when Acuña makes use of that whole timeline, he’ll be again by early June, until he suffers a setback of some sort.
When he does return, the membership must determine which participant loses taking part in time. Eli White is at the moment holding down Acuña’s proper area spot. He has a .284/.333/.506 line and 127 wRC+, however is getting some assist from a .350 batting common on balls in play. He might drop right into a fourth outfielder position however left fielder Alex Verdugo has a .241/.300/.325 line and 76 wRC+ on the 12 months, corresponding to his poor season with the Yankees in 2024, so maybe White might slide over to left and take a while there.
As for Strider, it appears there’s an opportunity he may very well be again as quickly as per week from now, if the sim sport goes properly. Even when he does go on a rehab project, it may be a short one. At any time when he’s wholesome, he ought to slot subsequent to Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach and AJ Smith-Shawver within the rotation. Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes are at the moment within the combine however each have ERAs shut to five.00. Elder has a tepid strikeout price however a great stroll price whereas Holmes has been getting extra punchouts but in addition giving out extra free passes.
