Ronald Acuña Jr.'s near-injury raises a greater concern for the Braves

Ronald Acuña Jr. is the most exciting player in baseball. The Atlanta Braves star is fresh off a 40-70 season in which he won the NL MVP award. Atlanta is at its best when Acuña is allowed to play freely without any limitations.

However, that can often serve as a catch 22 for manager Brian Snitker. While Acuña is an elite talent, he's also reckless, and puts himself at risk of injury relatively frequently. That occurred on Tuesday when he was hit in the right knee by a fly ball he didn't have much of a chance at catching.

Back in 2022, Snitker admitted to The Athletic he'd had previous conversations with Acuña Jr. about playing smart.

“You gotta be careful because you don’t want him to get hurt because he’s being careful. You gotta let him go. You just hope we get him back there," Snitker said at the time. “Yeah, because he plays with his hair on fire. He plays the thing hard. He’s done a really good job managing the (comeback from a knee injury), too. He’s gotten hot, he’s on base a lot, he wants to run, making plays in the outfield. Probably as he gets older and matures, he’ll probably need to scale back some of that a little bit because of the wear and tear on his body."

Braves still have a looming problem with Ronald Acuña Jr.

Again, Acuña Jr. shouldn't completely alter his style of play. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem capable of scaling it back, even in moments where he doesn't necessarily need to push it. Tuesday was one of those such occasions, as Acuña Jr. had very little chance of catching said ball.

The Braves outfielder made it clear in 2022 that if he dials it down a notch, he won't be the same player.

“If I try to do anything different, it would just diminish the game and it would diminish the way I play," Acuña Jr. said.

This time, Acuña Jr. was okay. In 2021, he played just 82 games as the Braves won a World Series without him. They likely won't be as lucky this time around should he go down with another severe injury.

At some point in his career, Acuña Jr. will have to make an adjustment in the name of longevity. That time doesn't appear to be now, based on his recent play.