UTK Flash 5/26/24

Ronald Acuna Out for Season

Bob Nightingale had the news late, after a holiday weekend night MRI. Ronald Acuna Jr has torn his ACL. This is the left knee, not the right that was previously reconstructed. Call it a “tissue issue” but we’ll never know. In both cases, Acuna was making an athletic play that few others do. A couple years ago he leaped at a linger, landed wrong on the warning track, and pow, season over. Now, a secondary lead caused a slip and the ACL gave.

The positive here is that we know how Acuna comes back from this. After his ACL, he put together an historic power-speed season last year, causing all sorts off silly endpoint clubs which have no value, but only serve to show how crazy Acuna’s combo of skills and athleticism are in the game.

The downside is that his 2024 season is done. He should be back in six to nine months on the physical side, but Acuna took a bit longer to really get the confidence back in his knee last time. Familiarity might help, but it might not given this one will have the same result - pain for now, a long, tedious recovery.

I’d like to suggest he could be back faster with a newer procedure, though while we’re finally seeing some breakthroughs in terms of more InternalBrace procedures, no major professional sport has yet to do something like a Lavender Fertilized ACL reconstruction. Somehow, the great results and lesser return time hasn’t persuaded people.

Surgery should come in the next two weeks, putting Acuna’s timeline back around the start of next season. We’ll see exactly how that goes and the Braves tend to be pretty conservative. Acuna will drive this and again, his confidence in the knee will be the biggest factor in just how quickly and successfully he can be back.

I’ll have more details in UTK on Tuesday, but this is a simple ACL sprain, which should be more known for Acuna and for Braves fans than most other injuries.