The star outfielder has been out of the Braves lineup since early June.
Ronald Acuña Jr.'s first game back ended with an 0-for-3 line in the Florida Complex League. Under almost any other circumstance, that would be the story.
Instead, Monday felt more like the final step before the Atlanta Braves get one of their biggest pieces back.
The timing may matter as much as anything.
Atlanta enters the break with a two-game lead in the National League East despite playing more than a month without the player who still changes the way opposing teams approach the top of the lineup. Monday represented the first step toward changing that.
The Braves have not publicly committed to a timetable for Acuña's rehab assignment, according to MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Still, the schedule itself provides a natural opportunity with the All-Star break. Acuña can accumulate several rehab games this week before the Braves return to action on Friday against the Texas Rangers, a luxury not granted to most injured stars throughout such a long and grueling season.
That makes the process feel less like a lengthy rehabilitation and more like a final checkpoint. Braves manager Walt Weiss hinted at that outlook before the break while discussing what Acuña's return would mean for the lineup.
"That will be good to get him back," Weiss said last week, via Bowman. "It's a right-handed bat we probably need in our lineup. He's obviously a great player."
Weiss also pointed toward something Atlanta has missed even beyond the numbers.
"Even when he's not performing at his highest level, he's a presence and there's a trickle-down effect when you have to deal with him at the top of the order."
That presence disappeared on June 9, when Acuña aggravated the same left hamstring he had previously strained in early May. The recurrence forced him back onto the injured list after he had returned on May 19 and posted an .893 OPS over the next 19 games.
The encouraging part for Atlanta is that this injury was never viewed as one expected to linger deep into the summer.
When Acuña landed on the injured list, Weiss described the Grade 1 strain as "not terrible," according to Bowman, adding that it wasn't as severe as the previous hamstring issue even though it required enough recovery time to avoid playing shorthanded.
Getting Acuña back has never really been the difficult part. Keeping him on the field has. Now, this week in the Florida Complex League will eventually be remembered by whether it turns out to be the last hurdle before Atlanta can stop managing his return and start counting on him again.
