Acuña Returning From Injured List, Catcher Sent to Triple-A

Ronald Acuña Jr. is once again making his return to the Atlanta Braves lineup. The team announced on Friday that he had been activated from the 10-day injured list.

In a corresponding move, Sandy León has been outrighted to Triple-A. 

It was reported on Thursday that Acuña’s return could be as soon as Friday, while essentially guaranteed to happen at some point over the weekend. 

The Braves' All-Star outfielder went on the injured list on July 30 with what initially was believed to be an achilles injury. However, in a better-case scenario, it turned out to be a lower-calf injury. 

Acuña returns from the injured list for the second time this season. He started off the season on the 10-day while wrapping up his recovery from a torn ACL, the second time he’s sustained the injury in his career. 

Make that one fewer injury the Braves have to worry about as they try to get healthy the rest of the season. In 55 games played this season, Acuña is batting .306 with a 1.006 OPS with 14 home runs and 26 RBIs. 

It’s been an electric sample size from the Braves right fielder. His high-level performance out of the gate when he got back earned him the starting job on the National League All-Star team back in July. 

He was originally going to participate in the Home Run Derby as well, but Matt Olson took his spot out of precaution to keep him healthy. 

León had been up in the majors serving as a third catcher for the team. For a time, the Braves were alternating Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin at catcher and designated hitter, requiring a third catcher. 

Whomever is the designated hitter for that game cannot move to catcher without the designated hitter being forfeited for the remainder of the game. So, that’s where León came in. 

Now that Marcell Ozuna is starting to heat back up and earning his spot back in the lineup, the Braves don’t need this third catcher as much. He was the easiest to move to create room for Acuña again. 

The Braves could have a couple more players returning soon from the injured list. Third baseman Austin Riley is slowly working his way back from another abdominal injury, and Chris Sale is in the middle of his rehab assignment. 

Others are looking doubtful, including Reynaldo López and Spencer Schwellenbach, or have been ruled already, such as Joe Jiménez. 

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