It’s been nearly a week since the Atlanta Braves have seen Ronald Acuna Jr. in a game because of a groin injury, but that could be changing soon.
The road back for Ronald Acuna Jr. has hit a roadblock as he’s been out of the Atlanta Braves lineup since May 10 with a groin injury.
At first we hoped he’d only miss a game and then be back in the lineup over the weekend against San Diego — especially after an MRI revealed there was no serious damage.
But that was not the case as he missed the entire series.
Then we thought perhaps he’d return at least in the DH spot on Monday against the Milwaukee Brewers, but that wasn’t to be either.
However, the extended drought of seeing Ronald Acuna Jr. could be nearing an end.
Braves — Brian Snitker Gives Hope of Ronald Acuna Jr. Return
There was good news on Monday as Brian Snitker said we could see Acuna return on Tuesday.
Snit said Acuña passed all the tests while running the bases and completing other exercises today. If he recovers well, Acuña will likely play tomorrow.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) May 16, 2022
That’s great news for a Braves team that needs all the help they can get right now after yet another disappointing series loss over the weekend to the Padres.
Let’s just hope when he comes back this time he’ll be fully healthy and this groin injury won’t become a lingering issue.
The Braves have been fortunate they’ve gotten great contributions from Travis Demeritte in his place.
But there really isn’t much else they can do if Acuna has to spend time on the IL.
Drew Waters is the only other outfielder currently on the 40-man roster, and he’s still working his way back from a hamstring injury playing sparingly at Gwinnett; although, he’s been really good when he has played.
Atlanta could open up a 40-man spot or two by putting Manny Pina and/or Eddie Rosario on the 60-day IL.
At that point they could bring up someone like Alex Dickerson or Preston Tucker.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that and Acuna is able to return on Tuesday and remain in the lineup for a while.