What next? Atlanta Braves fans everywhere find themselves asking how can things get any worse as we suffer through this disappointing 2025 season. Unfortunately, the answer to what is next is a familiar somber one. Another Braves injury to report, this time to Atlanta's best player, Ronald Acuna Jr.
The Braves right fielder was originally slated to leadoff for the series opener against the Athletics, but sadly Acuna Jr. was just scratched from the lineup with what the team is calling lower back tightness. In what already feels like a lost season, losing their franchise cornerstone for any length of time is a crushing blow. Jurickson Profar was moved into the leadoff spot in the lineup, and Eli White will take Ronald's place in right field.
Acuna was scratched with lower back tightness. Trainer George Poulis got Snitker's attention during batting practice, to seemingly alert him of Acuna's discomfort
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 9, 2025
Braves horrific 2025 season going from bad to worse
As of now alarm bells aren't ringing, but should Acuna not progress well over the next couple days things could get a lot more serious. The Braves have always been cautious with Acuna Jr., scratching him from the lineup in previous instances, and they are being rightfully more cautious in a lost season and one where RAJ is still just 40 games into his return from last season's knee injury.
According to Mark Bowman of mlb.com, the Braves' will monitor Acuna Jr.'s comfort level over the next few days before determining if his status for the Home Run Derby and All-Star game becomes impacted. The Braves are a season worst 11 games under .500, and have played dreadful baseball since Acuna's return despite his 1.011 OPS.
Obviously back injuries are always worrisome, but Ronald is still a young man and doesn't have a history of back injuries so let's hope for good news in the following days. It's likely Snitker will pass along updates as to the severity of the discomfort in Tuesday night's postgame media scrum.