Atlanta Braves fans had to be excited when, in his first official rehab game, Ronald Acuña Jr. got right back to doing what he does best by cranking a home run. It was a fun moment, but most observers still thought that the Braves were going to progress him slowly through his rehab progression in the minor leagues given how important his health is to their 2025 aspirations. However, it sounds like Atlanta feels like they have waited long enough and that Acuña Jr. is closer to being ready that we initially thought.
After his rehab game, fans were buzzing about his homer, but a very interesting report came from insider Daniel Alvarez-Montes that the Braves' young star told him he was flying back to Atlanta Wednesday morning. Not long after, AJC Braves beat writer Justin Toscano seemed to give credence to that report while speculating that Acuña Jr. could return next weekend against the Padres.
Ronald Acuña Jr. returning next week just became a lot more likely after rehab shift to Triple-A
Obviously a lot can happen in the coming days to derail these plans, but everything seems to be pointing to Acuña Jr. coming back to the big leagues next week. He can only be on rehab assignment for 20 days anyways per MLB's rules and with his rehab getting shifted to Triple-A, that is a real acceleration compared to the previous expectation of a slow, deliberate rehab that builds up his stamina.
Toscano seems to think that the Braves' homestand against the Padres is the logical time to activate Acuña Jr. and there is a lot of logic to that. Braves fans would be super hyped up to see Acuña Jr.'s first game back and would turn out in droves. However, Atlanta's offense is also pretty rough at the moment and if he plays multiple games this week and plays well, don't be shocked if we see him jump back into the fray against the Nationals in D.C. earlier in the week than that.
Whatever the exact timing, it is becoming clear that Acuña Jr. will be back with the Braves sometime in the next two weeks. One just hopes that he can stay healthy because when he is on the field, Atlanta is as dangerous as any team in all of baseball.