After fighting injuries for most of the 2024 campaign, the Atlanta Braves are gearing up to begin the 2025 campaign short staffed. This will be hard for Atlanta, especially with Ronald Acuña Jr’s inevitable absence.
Alex Anthopoulous while speaking to reporters on Tuesday said that neither Acuña nor Spencer Strider will be ready to resume playing by Opening Day.
Acuña is still healing from left knee surgery to fix a torn ACL he got on May 26 in Pittsburgh. He was limited to only 49 matches last campaign after heading the Majors in hits (217), runs (149), stolen bases (73) and on-base percentage (.416) enroute to win the 2023 NL MVP Award.
He was also the first player in AL/NL history to record a 40-70 season.
Meanwhile, Strider was limited to only two starts last season before undergoing surgery on his right elbow in April. This was immediately after he finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2923. Strider went 20-5 with a 3.86 ERA and headed the Majors with 281 strikeouts.
