{"id":87809,"date":"2025-09-04T01:44:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T01:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809"},"modified":"2025-09-04T01:44:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T01:44:36","slug":"report-acuna-jr-s-post-injury-struggles-are-real-but-the-braves-insist-its-not-time-to-hit-the-alarm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809","title":{"rendered":"Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm."},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"relative z-10\">\n<h3 class=\"my-2.5 text-black font-group-gigantic !leading-[30px] md:!leading-[44px]\">Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury slump shouldn\u2019t have Braves fans concerned (yet)<\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"mb-0 md:mb-9 relative md:mx-10 md:mb-9\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"overflow-hidden bg-lightGrey\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_360,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 1x,  \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 2x, \n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 719px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 1x, \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 2x, \n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 1079px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 1x, \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 2x,\n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F17%2F01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg 3x\" media=\"(min-width: 1080px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full\" title=\"Atlanta Braves v Philadelphia Phillies\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_476,y_287,w_2565,h_1442\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/17\/01k47jhazb84g0a6nrqk.jpg\" alt=\"Atlanta Braves v Philadelphia Phillies\" width=\"2565\" height=\"1442\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-darkGrey font-group-tiny\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-darkGrey font-group-tiny\"><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Atlanta Braves v Philadelphia Phillies | Emilee Chinn\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\" class=\"flex flex-wrap justify-center lg:justify-normal\">\n<div class=\"flex lg:mr-4 lg:w-[calc(70%-3em)] max-w-full\"><main class=\"min-w-0 flex-1 odesa-article-main\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"viewablity-block\">\n<div class=\"article-content [&amp;_p]:leading-[30px] [&amp;_p]:md:leading-[28px] [&amp;_li]:leading-[30px] [&amp;_li]:md:leading-[28px]\">\n<p>After an 0-4 performance in the\u00a0Atlanta Braves&#8217; loss to the Cubs\u00a0on Tuesday, it is becoming very clear that Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. is off right now.<\/p>\n<p>While\u00a0his return from knee surgery went extremely well, Acu\u00f1a Jr. has seemingly struggled to bounce back into form\u00a0after his Achilles&#8217;\/calf injury. In fact, some fans are already concerned that there is something deeply wrong with Acu\u00f1a Jr. and it could bleed into 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Again, the fear is understandable here. With\u00a0Acu\u00f1a Jr.&#8217;s injury history combined with the fact that he has slashed .200\/.333\/.277 with just a single home run in the 18 games since coming back for the second time this season, it is hard not to connect some dots.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">However, a closer look suggests that while Acu\u00f1a Jr. certainly hasn&#8217;t been good lately, Braves fans shouldn&#8217;t be panicking over his long-term prognosis. At least, not yet.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.&#8217;s slump doesn&#8217;t\u00a0<em>seem<\/em>\u00a0like it should last (we hope)<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">If Acu\u00f1a looked like he was running around hurt or his swing had slowed down or something, that would be something to really worry about. However, there doesn&#8217;t seem to be anything physically wrong with him that we can see despite the results being obviously not good. A closer look suggests that a certain amount of bad batted ball luck combined with Acu\u00f1a&#8217;s timing being off just a little bit off could be the cause of his issues here.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Despite what it may seem like in the moment, Acu\u00f1a Jr. is actually striking out\u00a0less\u00a0during this stretch than he was\u00a0before he got hurt. His walk rate has gone down a little bit, but it is still at a very robust 14ish% since coming back. He is still hitting the ball hard as well. Using Tuesday&#8217;s game against Chicago as an example, Acu\u00f1a Jr. put three balls in play and all three were hit 93 mph or greater including two over 100 mph.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">At first glance, it just seems like Acu\u00f1a is just a little bit off from terrorizing the league once again. The sweet spot has eluded him lately leading to a lot of hard hit ground balls at defenders and sharp fly balls that hang up in the air for easy outs. Again, if he was only hitting dribblers and striking out a ton, that would be one thing. For the moment, Acu\u00f1a deserves a bit of patience as he works through this rough stretch.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">However, if he doesn&#8217;t figure things out by the end of the season, fans are going to freaking out all offseason long.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury slump shouldn\u2019t have Braves fans concerned (yet) Atlanta Braves v Philadelphia Phillies | Emilee Chinn\/GettyImages After an 0-4 performance in the\u00a0Atlanta Braves&#8217; loss&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":87812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm. - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury slump shouldn\u2019t have Braves fans concerned (yet) Atlanta Braves v Philadelphia Phillies | Emilee Chinn\/GettyImages After an 0-4 performance in the\u00a0Atlanta Braves&#8217; loss...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T01:44:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6789000.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809\",\"name\":\"Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm. - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6789000.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-04T01:44:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-04T01:44:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6789000.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6789000.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731\",\"name\":\"MsThao\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsThao\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm. - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm. - NEWS USA","og_description":"Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury slump shouldn\u2019t have Braves fans concerned (yet) Atlanta Braves v Philadelphia Phillies | Emilee Chinn\/GettyImages After an 0-4 performance in the\u00a0Atlanta Braves&#8217; loss...","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-09-04T01:44:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6789000.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MsThao","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsThao","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809","name":"Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm. - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6789000.png","datePublished":"2025-09-04T01:44:36+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-04T01:44:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6789000.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6789000.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87809#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Report: Acu\u00f1a Jr.\u2019s post-injury struggles are real but the Braves insist it\u2019s not time to hit the alarm."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731","name":"MsThao","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsThao"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87813,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87809\/revisions\/87813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/87812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}