Opening Day is Thursday. And while the Atlanta Braves, like most teams, won’t start the season with a fully healthy squad, they are starting the year with a fully healthy Ronald Acuña Jr. And that is something you couldn’t say about the Braves last year.
The Braves young phenom missed the start of the season last year as he was still recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in 2021. And even though he was ready to come back physically, he was never quite the Acuña Jr. that took the league by storm pre-ACL injury.
However, after getting over some mental hurdles last season, not having to rehab this offseason, and being able to play with the Venezuelan national team in the World Baseball Classic, it looks like Acuña Jr. is finally back at 100 percent.
Atlanta Braves beat writer for the AJC, Justin Toscano, has been able to watch Acuña Jr. up close this offseason, and explained to The Morning Shift what major differences he’s seen between 2022 Acuña Jr. and 2023 Acuña Jr.
First and foremost Justin says “comfortability” is the thing that’s different.
“I think that when you have an injury like a torn ACL you could see that I guess mentally last year, and this isn’t to like psychoanalyze him or anything, but I think that there was a little hesitation about rotating his knee when he swung, or kind of getting on his back leg, or things like going back to the warning track to make a catch like plays that were similar to the one he got hurt on," said Toscano. "And I think even Snit [Brian Snitker] said that about 'hey you know he’s gotta check off a lot of these firsts and show himself he can do it.'”
Justin continues...
“I think this year, I think he just seems more free like more free’d up, more of the Ronald Acuña we’re accustomed to where he’s kind of loose," said Toscano. "He's fast, it just doesn’t seem like he’s thinking the way he was, which is a good thing.”
Justin also talks about how he hasn’t heard Acuña Jr. say that he’s “not thinking” in as many words, but he has heard Ronnie say a lot of things that “made it sound like he’s just much healthier this year, he feels 100 percent, he seems really happy to not have to be dealing with the rehab and things like that.”
Toscano finishes his thought by saying “I think it’s more of a true Ronald Acuña where he can kind of just go play his hardest and not worry about anything which is really good to see.”
The Braves have a dangerous lineup without Acuña Jr., but what makes the Braves a serious World Series contender, and what will continue to make the Braves a serious World Series contender is Acuña Jr. If the Braves get the 2019 version that hit 41 home runs, drove in 101 runs, and stole 37 bases, then the Braves are a serious threat to win the World Series this year.
