Reigning National League MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. was scratched from the Atlanta Braves‘ lineup Friday because of right knee soreness.
The Braves said Acuna was sent for further evaluation on the knee and they expect to have an update on his status Saturday.
“I don’t think it will be anything,” manager Brian Snitker told reporters, according to MLB.com. “It’s probably one of those things if this was the [regular] season, he’d play. But we wanted to get it looked at if there’s enough that he said so.”
Acuna tore his ACL in the same knee in 2021.
Acuna took part in Atlanta’s spring game Thursday against the Minnesota Twins but tweaked the knee during a rundown. He was able to take batting practice ahead of Friday’s matchup against the Baltimore Orioles before being scratched.
Acuna is coming off a monster 2023, one that saw him become baseball’s first 40-70 player thanks to 41 home runs and an NL-leading 73 steals. He also led the NL in on-base percentage (.416), OPS (1.012), hits (217) and runs scored (149).