Braves: Ronald Acuña Jr. reveals troubling feeling behind struggles

Ronald Acuña Jr.’s well-documented struggles offensively have Atlanta Braves fans concerned.

While Ronald Acuña Jr. may be an All-Star, it has not exactly been smooth sailing for the Atlanta Braves‘ most talented player since coming back from his torn ACL.

Acuña may have gone yard in Atlanta’s most recent defeat to the arch rival New York Mets, but his power bat has largely been absent in the Atlanta lineup. On the year, Acuna is slashing .256/.354/.396 with nine home runs and 26 runs batted in over the course of 70 games. Though he is not afraid to run on the base paths or make a play in right, this comment is a bit concerning.

“It’s all part of the process and I’m hoping for better days,” said Acuña to David O’Brien of The Athletic. “But I have to say, for example, the knee with my swings, it doesn’t always feel the same. Some days I have confidence in it, some days I don’t feel like I have confidence in it, and it’s not the same.”

How should Braves Country feel about Acuña’s comments about his knee at this point of the year?

Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. reveals why he is struggling at the plate

While there may be factions of Braves Country who are Battery-throwing mad about Acuña’s down season for his lofty standards, these things take time. When a player of his caliber loses the ability to walk and has to relearn how to do so, it is as mental of a process as it is a physical one. Gradually, he will regain that confidence in all facets of his game when it comes to his fixed knee.

The good news for he and the Braves is Atlanta should be a playoff team this year. Even if they do not catch those hated Mets in the NL East standings, Atlanta has too talented and experienced of a roster to not be a top-six team in the Senior Circuit. Again, repeating is so freaking hard, but Atlanta has the luxury of winning it all only a year ago. It is all about getting into the postseason…

From there, anything and everything can happen. The Braves should not be favored to the World Series, but the same logic can be applied to last year’s championship squad. Once Acuña touched home plate on Thursday night, you could see all of his teammates be so incredibly happy for him. They know the struggles he has gone through and they know he has put in the work throughout.

There will be a moment in October where Acuña will make everyone forget about these struggles.