“We just want to make sure when Ronald Acuña Jr. is back, that he is going to be elite,” Anthopoulos said.
They don’t see a scenario in which Acuña would need to start off the season as a designated hitter – a position currently held full-time by Marcell Ozuna.
In theory, they could have tried Ozuna in the outfield, but they didn’t even try that last season when depth was lacking. They rolled the dice with Jorge Soler instead.
Anthopoulos said this wouldn’t be too different from when he returned from his first ACL injury in 2022. In the 119 games he played after returning in 2022, 92 of those saw him play the outfield. The other 27 were as a DH.
The goal is to have the 2023 National League MVP fully healthy so he can play at his highest level when he gets back. He wasn’t fully back to speed when he returned last time and it showed in the stats.
In the season following his return, Acuña slashed .266/.351/.413 with 15 home runs 51 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. It’s not exactly the season he would have the following year.
So while he will have had more time to recover than last time, even if he returned for Opening Day, the Braves feel it’s better to take even more time and show further patience.
The longer recovery time also means that they don’t have to try and experiment as a designated hitter. That would be essentially rushing him back in their eyes.
Acuña is still expected to have a full Spring Training regardless of his status for the start of the regular season. His recovery pitcher counterpart, Spencer Strider, is expected to have a similar plan.
According to FanGraphs, Acuña is projected to slash .291/.379/.510 with 26 home runs and 74 RBIs in 128 games after he returns. The projections fully expect him to be good and ready.