Acuña a ‘long shot’ to return before All-Star break
The news, as it pertains to Braves’ star right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr., on Tuesday at Truist Park was not promising.
Acuña has not played since June 9 when he left a loss to the White Sox in Chicago with a hamstring strain. Despite being at Truist Park on Tuesday where he was going through a series of running drills, manager Walt Weiss indicated it could be two more weeks before Acuña is activated from the 10-day injured list.
“It’ll be a long shot to see him before the (All-Star) break,” Weiss said.
The Braves (49-33) have 13 games to play — starting with the opener of a three-game series Tuesday against the Cardinals at Truist Park — before the All-Star break, which runs July 13-16. Not having Acuña before that stretch is a tough blow for a team that has hit .214 in June and averaged 3.4 runs per game going into the month’s finale.
Acuña told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that he feels “much better.” But the organization appears to be taking the extra-safe route when it comes to Acuña’s possible return.
“Doing better, but like I said when this first happened, we’re gonna be pretty cautious with this one since it was in the same spot (of the hamstring),” Weiss said. “He’s going through a running progression and so far, so good. But he’s still got some hoops to jump through.”
Acuña is hitting .251 this season with seven homers and 22 RBIs. In 14 games in May, after coming back off the first hamstring injury, Acuña hit .286 over 14 games with a 1.057 OPS.
In the meantime, the Braves have had to rely on Mike Yastrzemski and Eli White in right field. White is hitting .219 and Yastrzemski is hitting .220.