Braves Ronald Acuña Jr. Feels He's Reached Next Level Physically

Ronald Acuña Jr. took his time to build back up to succeed out of the gate for the Atlanta Braves. Months of simply working in the cages and taking his time with the use of his legs after another ACL surgery panned out with an electric return in his first 20 games.

In those 20 games, he's batting .387 and his OPS to 1.178 and seven home runs. During the Rockies series, he saw him steal a base for the first time, something he's been strategic about. He's had some good seasons, one of which earned him an MVP for a historic effort. It requires being healthy and feeling good to play at a high level. In his mind, his best level, physically, is now.

After the game, he said via Braves Director of Baseball Player Relations Franco García translating that he felt "much better" physically than he did in his 2023 MVP season - the season where he hit 41 home runs and stole 73 bases to have the first 40-70 season ever.

The work he's putting in and the strategy he's incorporated for himself has allowed for it. He's not using every tool at the moment, but that's just what he has to do to be at that level he's at.

"Physically, I've felt ready to start running since I've come back, but I think we just got to approach it with some tact," he said via García. "Just sort of alter the way I'm playing because obviously, you know, I want to stay healthy."

While speed has taken a back seat, other tools, such as his arm and glove haven't. Acuña took measures to ensure his arm remained at a high level during his rehab.

"I just worked my entire body while I was down in Florida," he said via García. "I wanted to make sure that I did get up here I wouldn't have any weaknesses in my game.

Even pitchers on the staff , whose job is to have a strong arm and throw heat, can't help but be impressed with the strength he has on his throws.

"It's a little frustatingly easy for him," Spencer Strider said after the game. "As much time as I spend trying to throwing the ball, he just kind of picks one up with his eyes closed and rips them."

Focusing on his bat and arm has led to some very strong results. At his current pace, he would have 56 home runs for 162 games played. That would be a career-high by 15 home runs. If he keeps this pace up the rest of the season (119 games total), he can still reach 39 on the year.

For good measure, he's also on pace for 230 hits, which would clear his current season best of 217, which came in 2023.

He says he feels much better, and to little surprise, he's hitting better than we've seen from him during his career. An all-star nod is already looking pretty good despite the small sample size. That's only one more of many potential reasons why it was worth the wait to have him back.

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