The Atlanta Braves say neither superstar right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. nor starting pitcher Spencer Strider will be ready by Opening Day.
Acuña is recovering from left knee surgery for the ACL he tore in late May, and Strider is recovering from internal-brace elbow surgery in April, after the 2022-2023 MLB strikeout leader made just two regular-season starts.
“We’re planning on not having them on the Opening Day roster,” Braves president of baseball operations and GM Alex Anthopoulos said on Tuesday at the GM meetings in San Antonio, Texas, the first time he’s ruled out either being ready for the March 27 season opener. “How soon after that, we’ll see how that goes. And as we get closer and get into spring training, we’ll probably be able to update that.”
The Braves will let neither rush his return. It’s the second ACL surgery for Acuña, the 2023 NL MVP who had the other knee operated on in 2021, and the second elbow surgery for Strider, who had Tommy John surgery in college in 2019.
While it’s the first time Anthopoulos has flatly said they won’t be ready by the season opener, he had previously indicated it could be a month or two into the season before Acuña was activated.
Anthopoulos had also said since Strider’s surgery that there was no specific timetable for the right-hander’s return, only that he should be ready early in the 2025 season.
The Braves must plan to start the season with someone besides Acuña in right field — they have arbitration-eligible players Jared Kelenic, Ramón Laureano and Eli White as in-house options — and with a pitcher besides Strider joining Chris Sale, Reynaldo López and Spencer Schwellenbach in the top four spots in the starting rotation, if they don’t re-sign free agent Max Fried.
The Braves and Charlie Morton haven’t said if 41-year-old Morton will retire or if there’s interest in re-signing him if he continues pitching.
Morton could be an option for one of the final spots, but the Braves might also pursue a younger veteran free agent to bolster the rotation, knowing they can’t assume Sale and López will stay healthy for an entire season or that Schwellenbach will not have any problems continuing to build on his phenomenal rookie season.
— The Athletic‘s Matt Gelb contributed to this report.
(Photo of Ronald Acuña Jr.: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
