Brian Snitker: Braves 'trying to be optimistic' about Acuña’s injury

The tone has done a complete 180 surrounding the reining NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr, who was scratched from the lineup of Friday’s game with right knee soreness.

Initially, it was ruled a precaution, but as more information is released, it’s becoming evident that may not be the case. Acuña underwent an MRI yesterday, which revealed irritation of the meniscus. Despite that, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos didn’t seem too concerned with Acuña’s potential availability for Opening Day.

“We expect him to be ready for Opening Day barring new information,” Anthopoulos said, via Mark Bowman of MLB.com. “It looks like irritation, but we’re going to make sure we check all of the boxes.”

That’s a lot of optimism from the man in charge, but the tone didn’t necessarily sound the same from Braves manager Brian Snitker.

“Right now we’re trying to be optimistic,” Snitker said, via David O’Brien of The Athletic. “Maybe (he’s out for) just a couple of weeks or whatever, just to calm everything down. But honestly, I don’t know until we get what the doctor out there says.”

It no longer sounds like a situation that is just precautionary. Acuña’s already had an MRI on the knee and he’s flying across the country for another by the same doctor that performed his ACL surgery a few years ago. That’s not the typical course of action for something that the team views as a non-issue.

The good news is we are still four weeks away from the start of the season, and meniscus injuries, even at their worst, are not typically season-ending. Hopefully, Acuña is still available for Opening Day, but I don’t imagine the Braves are going to take any chances. If he misses a little time at the start of the season, it will not affect their ultimate goal of winning the World Series.