Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. Says Criticism After Knee Injury 'Motivated' Him in Rehab

Off to a red-hot start this season, Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. has opened up about some of the criticism he heard last year in the wake of his return from a torn ACL.

Speaking to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, Acuña explained he was "motivated" by people questioning his ability to get back to his pre-injury levels of performance.

"I would hear people saying, 'He's not going to run the same anymore, he's not going to be the same baseball player because people don't come back well from this surgery," the three-time All-Star said. "It was frustrating to hear people talk like that. But also, it motivated me. I practiced, I trained hard, I fought and now they're mistaken."

Acuña wasn't on the field with the Braves during the run to the World Series in 2021. He injured his knee on July 10 attempting to catch a fly ball off the bat of Jazz Chisholm Jr. against the Miami Marlins.

The Braves announced two weeks later that Acuña had surgery to repair the injury. He missed the first three weeks last season before returning to the lineup on April 28.

While Acuña certainly didn't play bad in 2022, it wasn't up to the standard he set over the four years before the injury. The Venezuelan star hit .266/.351/.413 with 15 homers and 29 stolen bases in 119 games.

Gonzalez noted during the 2022 season, Braves trainers spoke to NFL trainers "to pick their brains about how running backs recovered from ACL tears like Acuña's." The consensus was it usually takes a full season and offseason before a player is back to their pre-injury standard.

That certainly looks to be the case for Acuña. He's got a .332/.419/.577 slash line with 11 homers, 22 stolen bases and leads all MLB position players with 2.7 FanGraphs wins above replacement.

At his current pace, Acuña would finish the season with 36 homers and 71 stolen bases. Eric Davis in 1987 and Barry Bonds in 1990 are the only players in MLB history with at least 30 homers and 50 stolen bases in a single season.

The Braves enter Friday leading the National League with a 31-19 record.