After holding out hope Ronald Acuna could return when the Braves begin their homestand Monday, the Braves placed the outfielder on the 10-day injured list Saturday.
Acuna first experienced left wrist soreness on Tuesday. The 22-year-old was scratched 90 minutes before a game against the Yankees and has missed the past three games entering Saturday. Acuna went back to Atlanta for further evaluation while the team traveled to Miami for this weekend’s series.
The Braves have played shorthanded in Acuna’s absence, thinking he wouldn’t require an IL stint. Their hope was Acuna would be back in the lineup Monday, but after feeling sore on Saturday, the Braves finally placed him on the IL.
“We’re going to put Ronald on the backdated IL because he came in and was still pretty sore,” manager Brian Snitker said. “So he’s not going to be ready to go for the first of the week. Hopefully we’ll do that and shoot for the weekend now.
“There’s no reason to push anything like that. You need your hands, wrists and all to be effective. Don’t want him altering any other parts of his game. We’re just going to make sure we get that thing cleared up and he can go the rest of the time.”
Acuna would be eligible to return next weekend when the Braves host the Phillies. He’ll miss a three-game series against the Nationals in the meantime.
Reliever Chad Sobotka was added to the active roster from the taxi squad to fill the open roster spot for this weekend.
Acuna is the Braves’ third All-Star to recently land on the injured list. Second baseman Ozzie Albies is also on the IL with a wrist issue. Ace Mike Soroka tore his Achilles on Aug. 3 and will miss the remainder of the season.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s 60 or 160 (games), there are going to be rough times that you have to grind your way through,” Snitker said. “I’m a big believer that if you get through spots like that, there are good things at the end of it. We’re going through one of those spots right now. Even in 60 games, (I expected) we’d have a situation like this at some point in time. I know that this club is capable, when we get right, of reeling off something really good.”
