It was easy to assume the worst after the Atlanta Braves announced that Ronald Acuña Jr. was pulled early from their game against the Marlins with pain in his thumb. Given the Braves' luck with injuries and Acuña Jr.'s repeated health issues, there was no shortage of people on social media declaring that Acuña Jr. was made of glass and assuming the worst. However, if you ask Acuña Jr. himself, the outlook is very different.
After the Braves' dominant, series-clinching victory over Miami on Thursday, Atlanta manager Walt Weiss addressed Acuña Jr.'s injury and did not seem overly concerned. While "bone bruise" doesn't sound like good news, Weiss left the door open for Acuña Jr. to not miss any time at all and mentioned that Acuña Jr. was already lobbying to be in the lineup on Friday.
However, it is Acuña Jr.'s comments themselves that should have fans feeling better about the whole situation...and perhaps wanting to run through a wall.
Ronald Acuña Jr. does not sound like a guy who is coming out of the Braves' lineup if he can help it
In comments to the media after the game, Acuña Jr. explained that he didn't know exactly when he hurt his thumb and that the biggest issue is that he couldn't move it the way he needed to at the time. There wasn't some obvious moment, although eagle-eyed Braves fans did notice he was shaking his hand in the fourth inning after a catch in right. After trying to see if things loosened back up after an inning, Weiss decided to pull him just in case.
Acuña Jr. was matter of fact in explaining the situation, but his thoughts on whether he would play on Friday against the Nationals could not have been any clearer.
“I am going to play however I am. I don’t want to play tomorrow, I am going to play tomorrow.”
Well, it probably isn't THAT simple, but Acuña Jr.'s confidence here is heartening. He would also go on to joke that whether Weiss puts him in the lineup or not, Acuña Jr. is going to be out there in the outfield, even if that means Atlanta has four outfielders. There are some who have begun to write off Acuña Jr. because of his injury issues, but no one should be questioning his desire to be out there on the field.