The Braves Need Ronald Acuna Jr. to Find His MVP Form Before October

It’s understandable that Ronald Acuna Jr. hasn’t really found his form yet for the 2026 Atlanta Braves.

He’s played less than 100 games in three of the last five seasons due to a pair of ACL tears. When finally fully healthy entering this season after returning last year from the second, he’s been hindered by a pair of left hamstring strains that have caused him to miss a combined 54 games this season.

So it’s not some huge surprise that he’s having the worst season of his career in terms of batting average (.243), on-base percentage (.380) and slugging percentage (.416).

In the grander scheme, that hasn’t stopped the Braves, who have seen other hitters like Matt Olson, Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies step up to see them hold, to date, a wire-to-wire National League East division lead and essentially lock up a playoff spot with the regular season dwindling.

But if Atlanta is going to make noise in the postseason, it needs its superstar to rediscover the former greatness he displayed when he was named the 2023 NL MVP after becoming the first player in major league history to hit 40 homers and steal 70 bases in a season.

This weekend’s four-game series at the Philadelphia Phillies -- the only realistic competitor for the NL East crown, trailing by four games -- would be quite a time for that to kick into high gear.

Acuna has been trending up of late. With hits in five of the last six games -- including his first two three-hit games of the season -- he’s raised his average 15 points over that span after it had fallen to its lowest point since early in the season at .228.

He’s still entirely capable of playing at an elite level. In Wednesday’s 9-0 win over the Nationals, he became the fastest player in major league history to reach 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases in his career, doing so in 904 games.

“We know Ronald’s talent. It’s freakish talent,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He’s capable of doing unbelievable things.”

And yet, it has been fair to wonder if the slugger would ever consistently reach that level again or if he’s just another sad story of a promising player whose Hall of Fame trajectory was derailed by bad injury luck.

With the Braves able to lock up the division or blow a season-long NL East lead as it kicks off a stretch of seven games against the Phillies in a 10-day span, there would be no better moment for Acuna to restore some of that faith that he can become that player once more.

If that were to happen, it could be a springboard to the type of postseason performance that could propel the Braves through a loaded NL and deliver him the playoff moment denied him when an injured Acuna had to watch the Braves win the 2021 World Series from the bench.