Braves Were Knocked Out Early By Injury Bug

By Dan Schlossberg

Losing their best hitter and best pitcher early was a double whammy that doomed the 2024 Atlanta Braves before Memorial Day.

Taking Ronald Acuña, Jr. (torn left ACL) and Spencer Strider (UCL elbow surgery) away from the Braves was like taking Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler from Philadelphia or Francisco Lindor and Sean Manaea from the Mets. For an American League equivalent, imagine the Yankees without Aaron Judge and Aaron Cole.

The last time Atlanta was destroyed so convincingly was more than 150 years ago — during Sherman’s March to the Sea at the end of the Civil War.

After winning 104 games, hitting 307 home runs, and slugging .501 (a major-league record) in 2023, the Braves had to run on fumes practically all season.

Unanimous NL MVP Ronald Acuña, Jr. missed most of the 2024 season after tearing his ACL in May.Photo byDan Schlossberg

In addition to losing Acuña and Strider for most of the campaign, they also spent months without All-Star infielders Ozzie Albies (broken left wrist) and Austin Riley (broken right hand) as well as catcher Sean Murphy (oblique) and center-fielder Michael Harris II (severe hamstring strain).

Pitchers Huascar Ynoa, Hurston Waldrep, Ray Kerr, and Angel Perdomo also went down for significant stretches with elbow issues, while prized southpaw reliever A.J. Minter saunted to the sidelines with left hip inflammation.

Atlanta’s injured list was also occupied at various times by Max Fried, Reynaldo Lopez, Pierce Johnson, Tyler Matzek, AJ Smith-Shawver, Ramon Laureano, and others, leaving only Chris Sale, Matt Olson, and Marcell Ozuna unscathed.

While hamstrings, obliques, and injuries to the ACL and UCL can’t be avoided, pitched balls usually can. But not always.

Whit Merrifield, obtained by the Braves to replace Albies at second base, escaped serious injury but not a serious scare when hit in the head by an errant pitch during a game against the Colorado Rockies the day after Labor Day. But he did miss time.

“I’m sick of it, it’s happening way too much,” he told David O’Brien of The Athletic. “I watched Taylor Ward get hit in the face last year and have to get reconstructive surgery. Justin Turner got hit in the face last year. It’s happening at an exponential rate. Guys are getting hit in the hand, Mookie Betts broke a bone in his hand this year. It’s just ridiculous, and it has to be fixed. Or, God forbid, something terrible’s going to happen.

Forbes baseball writer Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is the author of Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron and 40 other books. He’s also the editor of Here’s The Pitch 2025, an ACTA Publications book slated for publication Nov. 15. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.