Ronald Acuña Jr. apologized to Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker and his teammates for accusing the skipper of having a double standard in a social media post earlier this season.
The 2023 NL MVP, who is working his way back from ACL surgery, addressed the team in Atlanta on May 14.
“(I) just (want to) apologize and ask for (Braves manager Brian Snitker’s) forgiveness for what I posted and for being a distraction,” said Acuña through an interpreter. “Just wanted to clear the air and move on.
“I was just frustrated with my situation in the sense of my being able to return to the team,” said Acuña. “I’m coming off a second major injury, I’m in Florida away from my teammates, the team is struggling. Those were sort of the things that were frustrating me … I wanna be here (in Atlanta) my whole career. So just seeing the team and my teammates going through that and not being able to help and not being able to be with them was where the frustration was coming from.”
Snitker said Acuña apologized to him before he spoke to the team.
“He had a meeting with us and he handled it well,” said Braves pitcher Bryce Elder. “He did his part. That’s all you can ask for. We’re ready to have him back.”
On April 19, Acuña was critical of Snitker in a since deleted viral post on social media when he didn’t remove Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic from the game for not hustling after he didn’t run out a ball and was tagged out at second.
‘If it were me, they would take me out of the game,’ Acuña posted on social media, replying to a reporter who shared Snitker’s postgame quote.
For context, Acuña was benched from a game following a similar play in August 2019. After that game, Snitker said: ‘He didn’t run. You’ve got to run. It’s not going to be acceptable here. As a teammate, you’re responsible for 24 other guys and that name on the front is a lot more important than that name on the back of that jersey.’
All is in the past now and the Braves are trying to get back on track. After starting 0-7, Atlanta has gone 21-15 with the hopes of having their star outfielder back in the lineup soon. In his first minor-league rehab game earlier this week, Acuña hit a home run in Class AAA-Gwinnett (Ga.) .
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