With the Atlanta Braves hanging on the best they can at the moment, there is a lot of anticipation surrounding the return of Ronald Acuña Jr. at the moment. While it is probably unfair to expect him to immediately be among the best players in baseball again right away, just the mere threat of Acuña Jr. in the lineup is likely to give the Braves' offense a boost and is certainly better than what Alex Verdugo has been doing at the plate lately. Given the latest word from Triple-A Gwinnett, that return could
Despite moving Acuña Jr. up the minor league ladder in a hurry once he was put out on rehab assignment, the Braves have been very careful to temper expectations as to when he could return. Alex Anthopoulos was making the rounds saying that a return this coming weekend against the Padres wasn't a lock and that the team needed to see how Acuña Jr. looking playing nine innings in the field and how he responded the next day before getting too excited.
Well, Acuña Jr. did play nine innings in right field on Wednesday night and given that he is in Gwinnett's lineup again playing right field Thursday night, his potential return this weekend was looking a lot more likely. However, now that he was a healthy scratch from Gwinnett's lineup, it would be a major upset if he wasn't in the Braves lineup on Friday.
Ronald Acuña Jr.'s return from the IL feels imminent after good response to full length rehab game
If there was some concern about rust at the plate with Acuña Jr., then maybe a longer rehab stint would be in order. However, Anthopoulos himself said that the team was not worried about his timing at the plate as he has remained very active when it comes to batting practice and sim games since spring training. The only question was how long it would take for him to get his feet back under him in the field and be able to play nine innings at a time without issues.
Well, that day seems to have come. If Acuña Jr. had any problems playing nine innings on Wednesday, the Braves would have likely held him out of Gwinnett's lineup today for a "rest day" or played him at DH before trying again in the field heading into the weekend. That proved to be the case when they designated him a "healthy scratch" on Thursday and then a bunch of reports came out that he is expected to be active for Friday's series opener against the Padres.
It is quite fortunate that he will be back for this coming series against San Diego. The Braves fly back to Atlanta after tonight's matchup against the Nationals and that series starts on Friday. With so many pundits thinking he is coming back this weekend and now seeing that Acuña Jr. is pretty well stretched out in the field, getting tickets to Truist Park this weekend seems like a smart idea.