Braves get major boost with Acuña off IL

CLEVELAND -- He’s back.

After missing a little more than two weeks due to a Grade 1 right calf strain, Ronald Acuña Jr. was reinstated from the injured list prior to the Braves' game against the Guardians on Friday night. Catcher Sandy León was outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett as the corresponding move.

While Acuña won’t be joining a team in the middle of the postseason race, the former National League Most Valuable Player will be looking to pick up where he left off prior to going on the shelf. He has slashed .306/.429/.577 with 14 home runs and 26 RBIs in 55 games this year.

“I feel good with my timing,” Acuña said through an interpreter. “I kept doing my routine in the cage, so I felt good.”

The injury, which was initially diagnosed as an Achilles injury, was expected to keep Acuña out for two to three weeks. He returned after a little more than two weeks without going on a rehab assignment.

Prior to Friday’s game, Acuña said that his calf was at “120%” on a scale of 0-100.

“He’s checked all the boxes in coming back and all the running and everything,” manager Brian Snitker said. “I’m sure he’s really excited to get back out there.”

The 27-year-old Acuña missed the first month of the season while rehabbing from last year’s left ACL injury. After winning the NL MVP in 2023 on the back of the first 40/70 season in MLB history, he has played in only 104 games since the start of '24. Acuña also tore his right ACL in '21.

While Acuña doesn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for the Baseball Savant leaderboard, his advanced statistics are all in line with how they were prior to last year’s injury. He currently ranks in the 69th percentile in sprint speed and has stolen four bases in five attempts.

Although there’s never a good time to lose a player of Acuña’s caliber, the Braves posted a winning record without him (8-7) thanks to strong play from some of the players in their lineup who had been scuffling.

Michael Harris II continued his strong second half by hitting .371 with four home runs in Acuña’s absence. Marcell Ozuna swatted five home runs and Jurickson Profar scored a team-high 12 runs.

They’ll all get a boost thanks to the addition of Acuña, who is second on the team in WAR per Baseball Reference (2.6) despite playing in less than half of the Braves’ games.