Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. won’t win a second NL MVP Award, but he’s still in position to claim some hardware this offseason.

Despite missing most of the first two months while recovering from a knee injury, Acuña remains one of the Braves’ most valuable players. The five-time All-Star entered Wednesday batting .279 with 17 home runs, 34 RBIs, and an .899 OPS over 364 plate appearances.

Only first baseman Matt Olson (5.9 bWAR), ace Chris Sale (4.0), and catcher Drake Baldwin (2.5) have a higher bWAR than Acuña’s 2.2 among Braves players with 10 games left. We won’t be surprised to see Acuña earn NL Comeback Player of the Year honors, even if he’s only hit .229 with a .754 OPS since the All-Star Break.

However, former MLB general manager Jim Bowden predicted that Acuña will finish second behind Miami Marlins starting pitcher and former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara. That’s certainly a bold idea, considering Alcantara, 30, owns a 5.53 ERA and -0.2 bWAR over 161 innings.

“I always root for players who come back from injuries and difficult rehabs,” Bowden explained, “and although none of these players got back to playing at their accustomed level (or, in Acuña’s case, played in a full season’s worth of games), they certainly have put themselves in a solid position for 2026 by continuing to get healthy.”

Bowden argued that Alcantara has “held his own,” though basic and advanced metrics argue otherwise. His 7.7% walk rate marks his highest since 2020, while his 19.0% strikeout percentage is his lowest this decade.

To be clear, Alcantara deserves credit for staying healthy and eating up innings for an overachieving 71-win Marlins team. Alcantara is on pace to make 30 starts for the fourth time since becoming a full-time rotation member in 2019, and his 3.34 second-half ERA should make fans — and potentially teams seeking a trade this winter — optimistic about what he’ll accomplish next year.

However, there is no justification for putting Alcantara over Acuña on a Comeback Player of the Year ballot. Players typically only win Comeback Player of the Year with a bWAR around 0.0 if they’re coming back from serious health problems. Hendriks (-0.1 in 2023) and Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco (0.1 in 2019) both earned Comeback Player of the Year after battling cancer.

Respectfully, Alcantara and his -0.2 bWAR missed last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’s been a below-average starter, and Hendriks is the only player in league history to win Comeback Player of the Year with a negative bWAR.

History works against Alcantara here, as does common sense.