Braves star Acuña Jr. sent for evaluation on sore right knee

After reporting right knee soreness, Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. went for further evaluation, manager Brian Snitker said after Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Orioles at CoolToday Park.

Snitker said Acuña — who the Braves said was scratched from Friday’s lineup “as a precaution” — might’ve started feeling the soreness after he got caught in a rundown between second base and third base in Thursday’s game. It was unclear who evaluated Acuña, what testing he underwent and where he had it done.

“They’re going to check him out,” Snitker said. “I don’t think it’ll be anything. It’s probably one of those things that if it was during the season, he’d play. But, still, we wanted to get it looked at if it was enough that he said something.”

By the time the Braves announced he was scratched from the lineup, Acuña had left the Braves’ spring training facility in Port Charlotte, Florida.

The Braves plan to have an update on Acuña’s evaluation today.

The Braves play the Blue Jays today in Dunedin, which is about two hours’ north of their North Port facility. Acuña almost certainly wouldn’t have traveled for that game if he were healthy.

But will he play Sunday in North Port? “I don’t know,” Snitker said. “It might be a couple days. If a guy misses one, he’s probably going to need to miss two or three just to make sure we’re getting rid of it.”

Acuña has played in three spring training games thus far, with his last appearance Thursday.

Acuña’s right knee is the one that doctors repaired after he tore his ACL during the summer of 2021. The Braves managed his soreness after he returned in 2022.

He stayed healthy in 2023 en route to winning the National League MVP award. When he discussed the coming season upon arriving to North Port last month, he mentioned health as the key for him.

A year ago, Acuña had the first 40-70 season — 41 home runs, 73 stolen bases — in MLB history. The Braves won a World Series without him in 2021, but he’s integral to their success.