Atlanta Braves fans were hoping not to struggle with the injury bug in 2026. Unfortunately, they haven't really gotten their wish as the injury troubles began in spring training. However, most of the offense found a way to remain healthy outside of Ha-Seong Kim and Sean Murphy. Those two are getting closer to returning very soon, and the Braves are lucky they are.
Ronald Acuña Jr. has had the worst luck with injuries, and despite struggling a little this season, he was at least healthy. But he couldn't avoid injury, suffering an apparent hamstring issue while running to first against the Rockies on Saturday.
There were hopes that he was only dealing with cramps, but it was revealed on Sunday morning that it was a left hamstring strain. The severity wasn't known at the time of the announcement, but an MRI revealed that Acuna Jr. has a Grade 1 hamstring strain.
Grade 1 strain for Ronald Acuña’s left hamstring, says Walt Weiss
— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) May 3, 2026
Ronald Acuña Jr. diagnosed with Grade 1 hamstring strain, return timeline unclear
This diagnosis does mean Acuña Jr. will be out for longer than originally hoped. It's not what he or the team wanted, but there is a small silver lining with Spencer Strider returning, and Murphy/Kim on the horizon of returning. As mentioned before, Acuña Jr. wasn't having the most spectacular season with a .252/.362/.378 slash line, two homers, and nine RBI over 34 games. The team has been crushing it despite his slow start, so hopefully he uses this opportunity to reset a bit.
Manager Walt Weiss did say that the team knew Acuña Jr. would need more than a couple days off, so that guided the Braves' decision to go ahead and put him in the injured list. That seems to indicate that Atlanta thinks Acuña Jr.'s absence could be short, but soft tissue injuries like hamstrings can be finicky and Acuña Jr. definitely came up pretty lame on that grounder, so you might not want to assume that he will be right back once his 10 days are up.
The good news is that it looks like we should get to see Acuña Jr. in action again relatively soon. For a team that is slowly getting healthy, the time when we don't have to worry about his injury status cannot come soon enough.
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