The Atlanta Braves were finally starting to get healthy before the injury bug started popping back up again. First, we had Sean Murphy breaking his finger pretty much as soon as he came back from the IL, and then Drake Baldwin needed to go on the shelf with an oblique injury. If that weren't bad enough, now Ronald Acuña Jr. is dealing with an issue of his own.
In the middle of the Braves' matchup against the Marlins on Thursday, Acuña Jr. was seen getting looked at by Braves trainers, specifically his hand and thumb. Acuña Jr. had done well in the game to that point with a pair of singles while driving in two runs. It was a minor interruption, and most fans didn't think anything of it.
With the Braves up 6-2, Atlanta opted to pull Acuña Jr. from the game early in the bottom of the sixth as a precaution with what has been termed "pain in his left thumb."
OF Ronald Acuña Jr. was removed from tonight’s game as a precaution with pain in his left thumb.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 22, 2026
Braves pull Ronald Acuña Jr. early from game with thumb issue
The whole situation was a little odd, to be honest. It sort of looked like Acuña Jr. was dealing with a cramp of some kind and it was impacting his thumb. Some also postulated that he was dealing with a blister or a splinter in a weird place, but we don't have any indication that that is true.
What we do know is that, after just a few games, Acuña Jr. is dealing with another ailment of some sort. One hopes that manager Walt Weiss just decided that the Braves were leading comfortably enough to take the opportunity to get Acuña Jr. off that turf and to give Eli White some playing time, but we should know more after the game.
Stay tuned, Braves fans. There is no cause for panic yet, as the team DID say that the move was precautionary. However, with this team's injury luck the last few years, we can't take anything for granted at this point.