REPORT: Braves Officials Are 'Concerned' About Acuña's Knee Injury

The Atlanta Braves are saying the right things publicly, but at least one national writer is saying otherwise

The Atlanta Braves have expressed confidence about the meniscus "irritation" that Ronald Acuña Jr. is dealing with. 

On Saturday, manager Brian Snitker told reporters that "we're trying to be optimistic," about the knee injury, explaining that the hope was that Acuña misses "just a couple of weeks, just to calm everything down." 

Snitker gave a caveat, though: "But honestly, I don’t know until we get what the doctor out there says."

Alex Anthopoulos, president of baseball operations and general manager, had a similar message. "We expect him to be ready for Opening Day barring new information," he said on Saturday. "It looks like irritation, but we're going to make sure we check all of the boxes."

And according to national MLB reporter Bob Nightengale, there's a lot in those 'buts'. 

As he wrote in his Sunday column: 

Ronald Acuna’s right knee certainly has Atlanta officials concerned. He will fly to Los Angeles to undergo an examination by Dr. Neal ElAttrache to determine the cause of irritation around the meniscus in his surgically-repaired right knee.
If arthroscopic surgery is needed he’ll open the season on the injured list. 

Now with the caveat that no one really seems to know for sure about the potential of Acuña needing surgery for the meniscus, Nightengale's statement seems pretty alarmist. 

For one, Atlanta's front office notoriously doesn't leak. Are Nightengale's comments something he gathered from someone in the front office, or is he reading into the public comments from Snitker and Anthopoulos? 

Additionally, even the concept of arthroscopic knee surgery isn't the worst thing in the world - Brandon Marsh of the division rival Philadelphia Phillies had one in early February and is already taking batting practice and doing defensive drills. While a three to four-week IL stint would take Acuña out of the running for an Opening Day roster spot, it's a (relatively) low-risk surgery with a short recovery time. 

But Braves officials here in North Port aren't saying anything, so we don't know what to make of Nightengale's report. At this point, we're all waiting with bated breath for the results of the medical check on Monday. 

But to his credit, Acuña himself isn't worried. 

I’ll BE BACK 🏃🏾‍♂️

— Ronald Acuña Jr. (@ronaldacunajr24) March 2, 2024

And as soon after this story went live, MLB Network insider Jon Morosi posted what could be interpreted as a rebuttal to Nightengale's story: 

Alex Anthopoulos told @MLBNetworkRadio this morning that he's "highly confident" Ronald Acuña Jr. will be in the Opening Day lineup.

Acuña will have his surgically repaired right knee examined in California this week after experiencing meniscus irritation. @MLBNetwork @MLB

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 3, 2024