Acuña Jr. has a new plan after second rupture of the ligament
After a second tear of the anterior cross ligament, Ronald Acuña Jr., MVP of the National League in 2023, is being rehabilitated with a plan to be stronger and healthier than ever.
North Port, Florida – Ronald Acuña Jr. met with the medical staff of the Atlanta Braves on the afternoon of May 26 and broke down to cry when they told him that he had suffered a complete tear of the anterior cross ligament of the left knee. But when Juan Aularhis coach in Venezuela, knew that same night, Acuña was already calm. He had accepted his destiny, comforted himself knowing exactly what awaited him and was convinced that a better version of himself awaited him on the other side. “We are going to do this again,” Acuña told Aular, the man who guided him through the breakage of the anterior cross ligament of his right knee less than three years before. “We are going to win the MVP again.”
Aular said: “I put chicken skin.”
Acuña se The LCA torn For the first time in 2021, so when Alarular saw his clip falling apart on the ground last year in Pittsburgh, he worried that the idea of another arduous rehabilitation could crush the player. That initial phone call gave him encouragement. And when they began to train together this winter again, Aular noticed a very different Acuña from the last rehabilitation. He was more mature, more focused, but he was also fighting with his identity as never before. At first, Acuña declared that he would not steal bases again, and Aular spent most of 10 weeks convincing him that he didn’t have to go so far.
They worked on stabilization and change of direction, but also in the formation of the mentality. Changing his game style was unnecessary, said Aular repeatedly to Acuña. Reducing your intensity level could be dangerous. I simply had to choose your points. The first tear of the anterior cross ligament occurred when Acuña ran towards the warning line and tried to catch the ball near the fence. But the second was the result of unnecessarily forcing the action, trying to steal the third base in the first entry of a season of early season, and then injure when changing direction and back to the second.
“You have to learn to play according to the situation of the game,” said Aular in Spanish. “That is the key to Ronald.”
Acuña, 27, has played seven seasons in the big leagues, but has only been completely healthy in two of them. In the first, 2019, he hit 41 homers, stole 37 bases, registered an OPS of .883 and finished fifth in the vote for the Most valuable player of the National League Like a 21 -year -old. In the second, in 2023, he signed the First season of 40/70 in the history of the big leagues and was chosen unanimously MVP.
Acuña emerged from that year as the best and most electrifying sport player – Shhehei Ohtani Apart, perhaps – but it is not known how it will be seen after a second major knee operation. Acuña believes that the combination of good health and more experience will make him “an even better player than it was in 2023” he also strives to be a bit different.
“I prefer to steal 30 and play the whole season than try to steal 70, injure and lose myself all year,” said Acuña in Spanish.
But achieving adequate balance between aggressiveness and control can often be difficult for players, and Acuña’s attempt seems especially delicate. What the braves want most is to have him healthy, but they also know that the best version of him plays with a hint of reckless abandonment. They don’t want to lose Acuña, but they don’t want to lose himself either.
They expect time to help.
The Braves have not announced a return date for Acuña, but if everything is going well, it is expected to return to their alignment at some time in May. By then, your rehabilitation will have lasted about 12 months, two more than the last time. His return will not come with any artificial restriction, either. He will play in his usual position as a right gardener when he starts, instead of having rest days as a designated batter, and will have green light in the bases. Any limit will be self -imposed.
“We are going to make sure that when he is back, he is stopped, and that he can be himself and play the game he plays,” said the general manager of the Braves, Alex Anthopoulos. “It is very competitive, it is a tremendous basis stole, and we will not have any restriction on it at all.”
Anthopoulos has heard of Acuña’s desire to be more cautious in the bases, although he has not heard it from Acuña himself.
His answer: “I will believe it when I see it.
“And I don’t say it badly,” Anthopoulos added. “It is simply a good base stole. From a medical point of view, if you are authorized and okay, I think you will find a sweet point that makes sense for him. But we have not told anything specifically. Once he is back, the plan is to return without restrictions.”
Anthopoulos noticed Acuña more “apprehensive and tentative” in the outfield when he returned from a rehabilitation of nine and a half months in 2022. There was fear that the incident was repeated, but Acuña had not spent enough time strengthening his lower half. They needed flashing days to combat continuous discomfort. Acuña did not feel that it had a strong enough base, and its numbers – an OPS of .764 and 15 home runs, while it was caught stealing 11 times in 119 games, the worst brand of the National League – they demonstrated it.
This time it shouldn’t be so.
Aular said: “Now it’s much stronger.”
Acuña passed June, July, August and most of September sailing through the initial stages of its rehabilitation in Elite Orthhosport, the Los Angeles -based training center recommended by its surgeon, Dr. Neal Elattrache. Aular then trained Acuña in La Sabana, his hometown, from mid -November to the end of January. The Bravos training staff sent a detailed plan, and both followed it six days a week, in five -hour sessions, resting only Christmas day and New Year’s Eve.
In January, Acuña said he had begun to feel again. Once spring training was initiated, he continually dazzled his teammates with prodigious home runs during batting practices. Sometimes it seemed as if it had never left.
“It seems himself,” said Michael Harris II, central gardener of the Braves. “Keep having fun, it is still a bobalicón, it continues to beat balls over the scoreboard.”
Acuña is a naturally endowed runner, having been a star as a 400 -meter sprinter during his first years of adolescence. As he ascended in the Braves system, he accumulated 82 basis stolen in 265 minor leagues matches. He continued with 196 robberies in the largest of 2018 to 2024, the second largest amount in sport despite missing 30% of the games in that section. Stoleing bases has always been an important part of Acuña’s identity. Few seem convinced that it will stop doing it, even if it is a bit.
“I don’t think I ever leave it,” the first base of the Braves Matt Olson said with laughter. “He is the player who is. Yes, you can choose when to run and those things, but I bet that once he goes out there again, he has the legs under him, return to the game speed, it will be the same Ronald as always.”
The Braves saw their streak of six consecutive division titles last season, winning 89 games and sneaking down the hairs in the playoffs. The New York Mets have since incorporated Juan Soto, and the Philadelphia Phillies are still a force, but the Braves will recover their two best players: Spencer Strider, who succumbed to an elbow operation after only two exits last spring, should return to the upper part of the rotation before the end of April; Acuña will return to the upper part of the alignment shortly after.
Acuña will not play in any match of the Liga de la Toronja, but has been hitting against the brave pitchers to refine their synchronization. You will soon be authorized to perform cutting exercises. Soon a rehabilitation assignment will follow. The reality of playing baseball matches has significantly lifted the mood.
“You appreciate things more when something like that happens to you,” said the Braves coach Brian Snitker. “You realize how blessed you are for having this opportunity to play this game.”
When asked what he learned when he had gone through this process before, Acuña said: “Patience. Not very anxious.”
Hopes to be better for it.
“Be the type of player I can be,” said Acuña. “I still don’t feel that I have reached my best moment. The most important thing is health.”
