2024-03-03 07:12:44
NORTH PORT, Florida – An MRI analysis gave the Braves the confidence to expect that Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr. will be ready for the start of the regular season. But the club won’t have an exact recovery time until the reigning National League MVP is examined Monday by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in California.
Acuña underwent the MRI after informing the Braves that he was feeling discomfort in his right knee. The results showed irritation around his right meniscus. ElAttrache seemed optimistic from what he saw, but to be safe he suggested seeing Acuña in person at his office in Los Angeles.
“We expect him to be ready for Opening Day, barring any new information,” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said. “It looks like irritation, but we want to be sure.”
Acuña arrived at the Braves facility Saturday morning without any apparent trouble walking.
There’s really nothing that has indicated that Acuña was dealing with any issues before he was late removed from lineup on Braves Friday. He appears to have hurt his knee a little while running between second and third base during the third inning of Thursday’s game against the Twins.
However, the right fielder remained in that game before being removed along with the other Atlanta starters in the fifth inning. He then spent Friday morning taking batting practice, signing autographs and being interviewed by MLB Network.
So there was no obvious problem, until the Braves announced that they had removed the La Guaira native from Friday’s lineup against the Orioles.
ElAttrache repaired that same knee for Acuña, after the Venezuelan injured his ACL two days before the 2021 All-Star break.
Acuña won his first MVP in 2023 after becoming the first player in history to hit at least 40 home runs and steal 70 or more bases in the same season.
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