Why isn’t Brad Hand playing for the Braves after been Out!
The Braves are two wins away from their first National League pennant since 1999, and have gotten here without one of their star outfielders.
Ronald Acuña Jr., the NL Rookie of the Year in 2018, hasn’t played for the Braves since July 10 because of a torn right ACL that sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
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He played in 82 games before the injury and had 24 home runs and 52 RBIs while stealing 17 bases. His slash line in that span was .283/.394/.596 while being worth 3.6 WAR, fifth-best on the team, even among his teammates who played more of the season than he did. He was also named an All-Star for the second time in his career but couldn’t compete because of the injury.
This isn’t the first time Acuña Jr. missed significant time because of injury, either. Last year, he missed 14 out of a possible 60 games with various minor ailments, most notably a wrist injury in August that landed him on the 10-day IL. Even still, he returned to the Braves in September and helped lead them to within a win of the NL pennant.
After that postseason, Braves GM Alex Anthopolous admitted the wrist injury lingered and followed Acuña Jr. into the postseason.
