Ronald Acuña Jr. Is BACK

Braves Country has been waiting for this day since last July. Ronald Acuña will presumably be atop the Braves' lineup again Thursday night for the first time in almost a year.

Obviously, improbably winning the World Series was the best distraction any franchise could ever ask for after losing your best player to a torn ACL in the middle of the season. But even that didn't feel 100 percent right with Ronald not out there. And after an 8-11 start to the 2022 season with a sputtering offense, Atlanta needs Acuña back in the lineup more than ever.

Acuña's original target return date was May 6, but he went down to Triple-A and was flying all over the place, ripping extra-base hits and stealing bases with reckless abandon, so the Braves correctly figured they may as well just have him do that in the big leagues rather than for the Gwinnett Stripers for another week.

The most exciting player in baseball is back, folks. Let's have a day.