After speculation that Ronald Acuna Jr. wouldn’t play for his home country in the World Baseball Classic, Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the Venezuelan superstar will indeed suit up in the international competition.
Ronald Acuña Jr. will indeed play for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. The decision was made today. The Braves feel comfortable because they’ll monitor Acuña for a few weeks in camp before he joins his country. And at this point, he’s had no knee issues.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) February 8, 2023
Toscano reports that the Braves medical staff initially wanted to keep a closer eye on Acuna during the spring, but the situation is more fluid than they initially let on. The club will report to camp next week, allowing the staff to closely monitor Acuna before the WBC begins.
Instead of him ripping and racing with Team Venezuela, the Braves will be able to slowly ramp him up even though Toscano notes the team won’t have any restrictions on him during spring training or the regular season.
As I said before, though, this situation seems fluid. If Ronald Acuna were to experience any setback, the Braves would pull him from the WBC. Acuna will have to be mature and reasonable with himself, but there’s been plenty of times when a coach had to protect a player from himself. And Toscano mentioned that the Braves would directly communicate with Venezuela manager Omar López and his staff to monitor Acuna.
Finally, things are returning to normal for the Braves star. Dealing with the recovery process and subsequential soreness during the season, it seems we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon, we’ll see the generational talent that is Ronald Acuna Jr.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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