3 reasons the Braves activated Ronald Acuña Jr. ahead of schedule

1. With Eddie Rosario going on IL, Ronald Acuña Jr. had to return early, right?

For as great as it is to get Acuña back into the every day lineup, the Braves will now be without NLCS hero and starting outfielder Eddie Rosario for two to three months. Rosario is having eye surgery to fix a hole in his retina. He struggled mightily at the plate and made a few bad reads in the outfield. Naturally, having a hole in one’s eye is probably not going to help out in the slightest.

Though it is going to be until the summer before Brian Snitker can pencil in Rosario, Adam Duvall and Acuña left to right in his outfield, there is an opportunity to be had for local product Travis Demeritte. The former Winder-Barrow standout could get more run at the big-league level than expected over the next few months. If he can hit and play good defense, he will carve out a role.

As for Acuña coming back, it is too soon to even think about putting him in centerfield. This puts a ton of pressure on Duvall to man the position for the time being with presumably Guillermo Heredia helping out on occasion. But with Rosario down for the count, the Braves were left with no choice when it came to improving their outfield’s overall viability: They had to call Acuña up!

Atlanta is very fortunate to be in a spot where it can offset losing Rosario by bringing back Acuña.