Atlanta Braves fans welcomed the news that Ronald Acuña Jr. was starting his rehab assignment this week. The Braves’ offense has been decidedly lacking to start the 2025 season and it seems likely that adding a guy with a MVP trophy on his mantle and a 40/70 season on his ledger is going to help the cause. Luckily, Braves fans didn’t have to wait long to see that Acuña Jr. is already well on his way back.
The Braves have opted for Acuña Jr. to began his rehab assignment in rookie ball so that he can slowly work his way back in a controlled setting. The plan for Tuesday evening was for him to get three plate appearances with the expectation that that would mean around 4-5 innings in the field.
Acuña Jr.’s first couple of at-bats resulted in some fun contact, but little else. However, his third at-bat brought with it a very familiar sight and sound as Acuña Jr. crushed a home run. He looked quite pleased.
Third at bat for Ronald Acuna Jr. and he goes yard. His first home run tonight. Just look at his smile!!.
IMO— he’s ready. #Braves #ForTheA #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/Gjl8XbGfHJ— Alison Mastrangelo (@AlisonWSB) May 13, 2025
Ronald Acuña Jr. crushes home run in first rehab start
Before you get too excited, it is worth reminding everyone that Acuña Jr. is going up against rookie ball competition and those kids are probably scared to death. Even at less that 100% and with a lot of rust, Acuña Jr. is still going to beat a lot of those pitchers more than not.
That said, so far Acuña Jr. looks really good to start his rehab. He moved out of the box quickly in his first plate appearance and obviously he is still more than capable of hitting balls into orbit after that swing. Being patient with Acuña Jr. is probably wise as the Braves are not going to risk him getting hurt again or suffering a setback, but tonight was a great step.
As for when we could see Acuña Jr. back in the majors, that is kind of tough. He is likely to stay in rookie ball for a couple more games after tonight and will move up the organizational ladder from there. assuming 2-3 games at each level, you can bank on around two weeks. Position players cannot stay on rehab assignment longer than 20 days, so the very beginning of June is the longest fans will have to wait unless something tragic happens and he needs to get shut down.
