{"id":13626,"date":"2018-06-22T14:30:54","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T18:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/\/?p=13626"},"modified":"2018-06-22T14:30:54","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T18:30:54","slug":"ronald-acuna-jr-begin-rehab-assignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2018\/06\/22\/ronald-acuna-jr-begin-rehab-assignment\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. Set to Begin Rehab Assignment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/atlanta-braves\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atlanta Braves<\/a> dodged a bullet in late May after rookie OF\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/acunaro01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. <\/strong><\/a>suffered what appeared to be a devastating\u00a0knee injury.\u00a0Acu\u00f1a injured his knee in an awkward manner after legging out an infield single in Boston. Replays showed his knee buckling dangerously and left many fans fearing the worst.<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/m\/2089486883\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(Video from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/braves\/video\/acuna-leaves-game-in-the-7th\/c-2089486883?tid=8878972\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MLB.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately,\u00a0Acu\u00f1a avoided a significant injury and did not require surgery on his left knee. He has been out of action since May 27, but his return could be right around the corner. The Braves announced Thursday that the young OF is set to begin a rehab assignment on Friday with Triple-A Gwinnett.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. is set to begin a rehabilitation assignment tomorrow, Friday, June 22, with Triple-A <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GoStripers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@GoStripers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Braves\/status\/1009914916600537089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Ronald\u00a0Acu\u00f1a Jr. Set to Begin Rehab Assignment<\/h2>\n<h3>Atlanta without Acu\u00f1a<\/h3>\n<p>Somehow, the Braves lineup has dealt with the absence of the young slugger remarkably well. Atlanta has gone 13-9 in the 22 games played since Acu\u00f1a was forced to the sideline. Part of the reason for that success is the play of utilityman\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/culbech01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charlie Culberson<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Culberson has appeared in 20 games since the injury to\u00a0Acu\u00f1a, and all he has done is slash .318\/.357\/.561 with four home runs, four doubles, 13 runs scored, and 12 RBI. Additionally, two of those home runs were game-winners against division opponents. Thanks to Culberson&#8217;s efforts,\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/freemfr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Freddie Freeman<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s usual brilliance, and a strong season from\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/markani01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Markakis<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0the Braves have been able to stretch their lead in the division to three games over the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/washington-nationals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Nationals<\/a> heading into Friday&#8217;s action.<\/p>\n<h3>Acu\u00f1a Brings a Boost to the Offense<\/h3>\n<p>Rest assured, the Braves still need\u00a0Acu\u00f1a healthy and playing well to be a serious contender down the stretch. Culberson has performed remarkably well in\u00a0Acu\u00f1a&#8217;s stead, but the offense as a whole could use a boost. Since May 27, Atlanta has scored three or fewer runs in a game eight times. The offense has also eclipsed four runs in a game just six times over that same period.<\/p>\n<p>There is absolutely no need to panic as Atlanta is still performing well and has a dynamic pitching staff behind the Braves offense. However, there is no denying the team is better with\u00a0Acu\u00f1a on it. He was slashing .265\/.326\/.453 with five home runs and 19 runs scored at the time of the injury, but\u00a0Acu\u00f1a still possesses game-changing ability on offense and defense. As a rookie, he will continue to learn and round into form. Hopefully he will be doing so for a team vying for a playoff spot.<\/p>\n<h3>Outlook<\/h3>\n<p>Atlanta has not officially announced when\u00a0Acu\u00f1a will re-join the big league club. Still, fans will be excited to learn that he is at least seeing action. After fearing the possibility of a massive knee injury, surgery, and a lengthy recovery, there&#8217;s no denying the Braves dodged a bullet. Now it&#8217;s only a matter of time until\u00a0Acu\u00f1a is back in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"D4jIMt9RQpNNtZ1TLXGgYg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/970351164\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'D4jIMt9RQpNNtZ1TLXGgYg',sig:'ENMvl6fuEZMM48DveYn58eu7yKF9pVysEFYpapWygPA=',w:'594px',h:'395px',items:'970351164',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta Braves OF Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. was able to avoid major surgery but has been out of action since May 27. He will begin a rehab assignment Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1230,"featured_media":13630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071,35],"tags":[48,68,69,2081,1982],"class_list":["post-13626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","category-news","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-rehab-assignment","tag-ronald-acuna-jr"],"modified_by":"Paul Harvey","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}