Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. couldn’t have scripted his return any better.
Acuña, who earned the 2023 NL MVP award after becoming the first player to record at least 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases in a season, suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury on May 26, 2024. Acuña went down after he appeared to twist awkwardly while on the base path, marking his second major knee injury in four seasons.
Friday’s matchup between the Braves and the San Diego Padres marked Acuña’s first game back on the field in nearly a year. Acuña led off for the Braves in the bottom of the first inning and went yard on the first pitch from Padres pitcher Nick Pivetta.
Acuña dropped his bat and took a page out of Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant’s book. Acuña did Morant’s grenade celebration, throwing an imaginary grenade and covering his ears as the crowd erupted in applause.
Acuña’s 467-foot homer marked the Braves’ only run of the entire game. They ultimately lost 2-1 to the Padres and dropped to 24-26 on the season.
Acuña made headlines earlier this month after making a controversial social media post, where he accused Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker of having a double standard. Acuña was critical of Snitker in a viral post on April 19 when he didn’t remove Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic from the game for not hustling after he didn’t run out a ball and was tagged out at second. ‘If it were me, they would take me out of the game,’ Acuña wrote.
He deleted the post and issued an apology to Snitker and his team, admitting that he was frustrated with being away from the team while working his way back from injury.
“I was just frustrated with my situation in the sense of my being able to return to the team,” said Acuña. “I’m coming off a second major injury. I’m in Florida away from my teammates, the team is struggling. Those were sort of the things that were frustrating me. … I wanna be here (in Atlanta) my whole career. So just seeing the team and my teammates going through that and not being able to help and not being able to be with them was where the frustration was coming from.”
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.