If the Atlanta Braves are fully healthy, they are one of the best teams in all of Major League Baseball. With arms like Spencer Strider and Chris Sale in the starting rotation to go along with dangerous bats such as Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson, this team could make a run at a World Series title. After 2024, Braves fans can only dream of seeing their team at its full potential.
After the addition of outfielder Jurickson Profar, the Braves anticipated spring training being an opportunity to build some rhythm and be as healthy as possible heading into Opening Day. Unfortunately for Brian Snitker's club, it has been quite the opposite.
Catcher Sean Murphy is sidelined for the next four to six weeks with cracked ribs after being drilled by a fastball. Now they are facing another injury that could put a lot of unwanted pressure on their franchise player.
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Jurickson Profar injury puts pressure on Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. to return quicker
The Braves were fully prepared to not be at full strength by Opening Day. Flame-throwing starting pitcher Spencer Strider is still recovering from surgery and so is superstar outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. following his second ACL tear.
When Alex Anthopoulos signed Jurickson Profar this season, the vision was to see Michael Harris II, Jurickson Profar and Jarred Kelenic in the outfield at the start of the season and let Acuña replace Kelenic once he returns.
This past Saturday, Profar dove for a ball in the outfield and appeared to injure his wrist. Profar was removed from the game and his initial x-rays were negative. While this is obviously good news, injuries like that could make the diagnosis tough to determine quickly.
If Profar has to miss any amount of time, this could make Ronald Acuńa Jr. feel like he needs to return as quickly as possible to help his short-handed team. This is something the Braves simply cannot afford as the re-injury risk for Acuña would be high if he is not 100 percent. The Braves can only hope this spring is not an indication of how this season will go and take things one step at time realizing some things are out of their control.