If you’re among the many eagerly awaiting the return of Braves phenom Ronald Acuna, Friday should be the day.
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said the plan is to activate Acuna from the disabled list before Friday’s series opener at St. Louis, provided he got through a second consecutive full game for Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday without incident and feels good Thursday.
Wednesday marked the one-month anniversary of Acuna’s tumble on the basepath at Boston, where he caught his left cleat in the dirt after beating out an infield single, hyperextending the knee and sending him sprawling violently to the ground. The 20-year-old left fielder sustained a sprained knee ligament and contusions to the knee and lower back.
The injuries were mild compared to initial fears of the Braves and everyone else who witnessed the frightening incident. Instead of the season-ending torn ligament or broken bone that many expected, X-rays and an MRI revealed only a mild sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament and bruising of the knee and lower back after the abrupt stop and traumatic fall to the ground from a full sprint.
“We’ll see how he does today,” Anthopoulos said Wednesday morning before Acuna played his second consecutive game in the Gwinnett outfield. “But we’re optimistic that if he comes out of the game (healthy) and he feels fine, there’s a good chance we’ll see him on Friday.”
Acuna went 0-for-4 Wednesday.
Acuna, the youngest player in the majors when called up in late April, hit .265 (31-for-117) with seven doubles, five homers, 13 RBIs and a .779 OPS in 29 games for the Braves, who were 18-11 with him in the lineup. He was 5-for-11 with a homer in the Boston series before getting hurt.
Wednesday’s game was the sixth for Acuna on his minor-league rehab stint, after spending a week in Florida working out and progressively increasing his workload under the close supervision of Braves physical therapists and a roving minor league instructor.
Rather than just have him rest for a week, work out a few days, play a few rehab games and return to the lineup within two or three weeks, the Brave were methodical with the rehab of a player who was the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball entering the season.
Charlie Culberson has played well in left field during Acuna’s absence and had some big hits and home runs, but Culberson will move back into a utility role when the rookie returns.
“Once he’s up here the plan is to play him every day,” Anthopoulos said. “So that was the rehab plan, just to get his legs and stamina back. He’ll have played nine innings in back-to-back days; the thought would be if he comes out of the game today fine, gets an off day (Thursday), travel with us and then we have him ready to go Friday. That’s our hope.
“It’s certainly not set in stone. If there’s a change in plans and we decide he needs an extra few days, we’ll go that route. But that’s what we’re hoping, that he comes out today and we have him back in St. Louis.”
Acuna is 3-for-21 in six games on his rehab assignment including one hit in each of his past three games before Wednesday. But those results weren’t what the Braves were interested in. The reports from his minor league manager and training staff were what mattered most.
“His knee and everything defensively is fine,” Anthopoulos said. “We’re watching the box scores offensively, but we’re not necessarily counting on that. He’s hit some balls hard. The biggest thing is how does he recover, how does he feel? How did he feel after playing nine innings, how does he feel this morning? If he says he’s a little sore maybe we need to give him a little more time.
“You have to go on how symptomatic the player is and how they feel. So far he’s had no issues, he feels great and he’s prepared to go.”
