The Atlanta Braves will be seeing Ronald Acuna Jr. on the field soon, as the team announced the transfer of rehab assignments for both Acuna and Ha-Seong Kim to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Acuna had appeared in 53 games this season, batting .251 with a .373 on-base percentage and a .421 slugging percentage with seven home runs before a Grade 1 left hamstring strain sent him to the injured list on June 10. It was the second time this season that the same hamstring has kept him out of the lineup.
In June, manager Walt Weiss didn't stress the injury too much, saying that the Braves had to put him on the injured list for him to recover so as not to aggravate the injury further.
Atlanta enters Friday in first place in the National League East at 55-40, with just a 2 1/2 game lead ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies. The All-Star break came at a perfect time, as the Braves stumbled to a 5-5 record in their final 10 games beforehand.
Kim, who signed a one-year, $20 million contract with Atlanta in the offseason, has been on the injured list since July 1 with inflammation in his right middle finger, the same finger that he had to get surgically repaired in January. Kim was batting just .068, going 5-for-82 in 27 games before going down.
© Colin Hubbard-Imagn Images
Both players are now well on their way back to the big league club, barring any setbacks during their rehab stints at Gwinnett in the coming days. The Braves will need a fully loaded roster to compete with a tighter division playoff race now in the second half of the season.
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