Acuña goes deep in first rehab game in Complex League

Ronald Acuña Jr. cleared another hurdle, and an outfield wall, in what was his first game in nearly a full calendar year. He will now prepare to begin playing for Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday.

Acuña began his Minor League rehab assignment by going 1-for-3 with a homer for the Braves’ Florida Complex League team in its game against the Orioles’ FCL team on Tuesday night at CoolToday Park in North Port, Fla. The 2023 National League Most Valuable Player ended his performance with a fifth-inning homer that easily cleared the center-field wall.

Braves manager Brian Snitker said Acuña's rehab stint will be transferred to the Triple-A level. It's unknown exactly how many games the outfielder will play before being activated. Acuña will steadily increase his workload until the team is confident he can handle playing right field for nine innings on a daily basis.

"This is a young man that hasn't played in a long time," Snitker said. "So his body has to get back into baseball shape. That doesn't happen overnight. That's a time-consuming thing."

Acuña was limited to three plate appearances in what was his first game since he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament during a May 26, 2024 game in Pittsburgh. He played right field until coming out of the game before the start of the seventh.

The Braves will gradually increase Acuña’s workload like they do with all players during the early portion of the Spring Training schedule.

A position player can’t stay on a rehab stint more than 20 days. So barring any setbacks, Acuña will be activated by June 1. But there’s certainly reason to anticipate an earlier return to Atlanta’s lineup.

Acuña has been taking batting practice and completing other baseball drills going all the way back to the start of Spring Training. But he wasn’t permitted to cut while running or do some outfield drills until he visited Dr. Neal ElAttrache last month.