Riley, Harris, or a soon-to-be Brave? Who could help replace Acuna after injury?
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Buster Olney, ESPN Senior Writer
When Ronald Acuna Jr. blew out his right knee on July 10, 2021, Alex Anthopoulos felt compelled to respond quickly.
The Braves’ head of baseball operations wanted to send a message to the Atlanta players that the season was not lost — that the front office and the team should both continue to fight. So five days later, Anthopoulos traded for veteran outfielder Joc Pederson and catcher Stephen Vogt, and before the end of the summer, he’d add three more outfielders — Adam Duvall, Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler. The Braves would go on to win the World Series that fall, with those midseason additions contributing significantly.
Now Acuna has suffered another anterior cruciate ligament injury, to his other knee, and again he is out for the season.
The Braves’ situation is not nearly as dire as it was when Acuna was hurt in ’21 — then, Atlanta was struggling to play .500 ball, and didn’t have nearly as deep of a roster as it does now. But this time, the team has to move ahead not only without the reigning National League MVP, but also without its most dominant pitcher, Spencer Strider, who suffered a season-ending elbow injury at the outset of the season.
The early success (and good health) of Chris Sale has helped to plug the hole created by Strider’s injury. But the Braves’ offense — which had already been in an early funk after setting records for home runs last year — will need heroes to emerge in the lineup.
It might be third baseman Austin Riley, who is expected to return soon from a minor back injury suffered a couple of weeks ago. At that point, Riley had felt that he was just about to emerge from an early-season slump. “I am this close,” said Riley, holding his index and thumb millimeters apart, as he described how he felt at the plate.
Maybe it’ll be Braves center fielder Michael Harris II, who knows what it means to dig out of a slump. Last year, Harris was activated off the injured list without taking at-bats in the minors because the staff felt his defense was so important — and for six weeks, he struggled mightily at the plate. But in his last 100 games, Harris batted .335 with 63 runs, 16 home runs and 15 stolen bases. He could be a natural candidate to ascend into the leadoff spot.
All-Star catcher Sean Murphy, too, was just activated after missing most of the past two months with a rib cage injury. First baseman Matt Olson has already begun to work his way out of a slow start, batting .290 with five homers in his past 16 games. Through his April struggles, Olson had actually generated hard-hit rates that were in line with what he produced last year, but he did not have the results to show for it. His teammates felt he had been the victim of some bad BABIP luck.
Many pointed to a game against the Red Sox on May 8: Olson scorched a line drive toward left field that Boston third baseman Rafael Devers rose to barely spear. Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer could see Olson’s shoulders sag with frustration at the sight of yet another intercepted line drive.
But Devers couldn’t hold the ball, and Olson got a hit. Before the next game, Seitzer spoke to Olson about his reaction to Devers’ brief interception. When Olson’s shoulders dropped, Seitzer said, it was like he could see that misfortune weighing down the All-Star first baseman. Seitzer told Olson there was no sense clinging to that frustration, because those early-season at-bats were behind him, and he couldn’t change the result.
“As far as I’m concerned, the season starts for you today,” Seitzer said. Hours later, after Olson had clubbed a home run in a series-opening win over the Mets, Seitzer greeted Olson in the handshake line and punctuated his earlier remarks: “Have a great season.”
Maybe the Braves will get a boost from Ozzie Albies, or Jarred Kelenic, the talented young outfielder who has swung well in his first season with the Braves. Maybe Duvall, signed late in spring training, will take advantage of the additional playing time he will get. Maybe Marcell Ozuna will continue to carry the offense, as he has for a lot of this season.
“He might be the best hitter in baseball right now,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Sunday as he described a plate appearance that Ozuna had against his team.
And it’s a certainty that Anthopoulos, reflexively proactive, will scan the trade market and look for opportunities to upgrade, even at a time when his farm system is thinner than that of other contenders. Anthopoulos typically holds some spending flexibility in reserve, and inevitably, other teams will look to dump pricey veterans as they fall out of the race. Sellers will develop, and outfielders will become available. Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader, Mark Canha, Starling Marte, Tommy Pham, Rosario (again) and Kevin Kiermaier are among the players on short-term deals who could be moved this year if their respective teams fall out of contention.
Braves manager Brian Snitker talked earlier this year about the team’s offensive problems and mentioned a trait he sees in the collective mindset of the team. “These guys will not panic,” he said. “They will never panic. Three years ago, we lost Acuna, and these guys just kept going.”
Three years ago, they won the World Series without him.
Now the Braves will have to try to do that again.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Mason Heintschel threw for 321 yards and connected with Desmond Reid on a pair of touchdown passes as Pittsburgh handed No. 25 Florida State its third straight conference loss on Saturday.
A true freshman, Heintschel completed 21 of 29 passes and had a pair of second-quarter interceptions in the 34-31 win. He has surpassed 300 passing yards in both of his starts, building off a rout of Boston College last week with a road upset of the Seminoles.
Reid had eight catches for 155 yards and 10 carries for 38 yards for Pittsburgh (4-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference).
The Panthers closed as 11.5-point underdogs before the game, making the victory their largest upset since beating No. 2 Miami in 2017 as 12-point underdogs, according to ESPN Research.
After a promising start to the season, Florida State (3-3, 0-3) is in free fall following losses to Virginia, Miami and now Pittsburgh. Mike Norvell’s team has failed to defeat an ACC opponent since a win over California more than a year ago.
Tommy Castellanos completed 16 of 23 passes for 245 yards for the Seminoles on Saturday, including a pair of touchdowns to Micahi Danzy — 58 yards in the fourth quarter and 33 yards in the second quarter.
But after FSU went ahead 24-21 on Jake Weinberg‘s 34-yard field goal attempt, Florida State fumbled at midfield and then went three-and-out. Later, while trailing 34-24, came Castellanos’ 58-yarder to Danzy.
The Panthers finished with a pair of field goals and then Ja’Kyrian Turner’s 3-yard touchdown run capped an eight-play, 75-yard drive with 2:28 left.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Ty Simpson threw for 200 yards and three touchdowns, including the clincher on fourth down to Daniel Hill with 3:16 to go, and eighth-ranked Alabama held off No. 14 Missouri 27-24 on Saturday to give the Crimson Tide their fifth consecutive win.
Jam Miller added 85 yards rushing before leaving with a concussion in the fourth quarter, and Kevin Riley and Isaiah Horton also had TD catches for Alabama (5-1, 3-0 SEC), which has won seven straight over Missouri dating to Sept. 8, 1975.
“Nobody flinched,” Simpson said afterward, scanning over the final box score. “We’re going to keep punching.”
Beau Pribula kept punching for the Tigers (5-1, 1-1), too, hitting Donovan Olugbode for a touchdown with 1:39 left. And after the Crimson Tide pounced on the onside kick, Missouri forced a quick punt to get the ball back with 1:17 still on the clock.
Pribula connected with Olugbode again on fourth down to get close to midfield, but he followed with two incompletions. Then on third down, Pribula overshot his target and was picked off by Alabama defensive back Dijon Lee Jr. to put the game away.
The loss ended the Tigers’ 15-game home winning streak, the second-longest nationally.
“We had an opportunity,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “Proud of the way our defense fought. Proud of the way our offense fought. Ultimately we just had too many critical mistakes in critical situations.”
Pribula finished with 167 yards passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and he also was the Tigers’ most effective runner with 61 yards and another score. The nation’s leading rusher, Ahmad Hardy, was held to just 52 yards.
“We did the job. Got the job done,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Each side of the ball, we covered for each other.”
Missouri got off to a good start, seemingly stunning Alabama on its opening drive. It took just six plays to march 78 yards, and Pribula threw a nifty lob to tight end Brett Norfleet down the sideline for a 26-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Yet the Crimson Tide not only regained their composure, they regained control.
Simpson was nearly perfect on an answering TD drive. And after Missouri went three-and-out, the junior QB drove the Crimson Tide downfield again, zipping a pass to Horton on third-and-long for a 16-yard touchdown pass that made it 14-7.
After each team added a field goal before halftime, Missouri took advantage of Simpson’s fumble – his only big mistake – on the first play of the second half. Pribula juked his way into the end zone three plays later to tie the game 17-all.
Yet the Tigers were never able to regain the lead.
Conor Talty added a go-ahead field goal later in the third quarter for Alabama, and the Crimson Tide stopped Missouri on fourth down midway through the fourth quarter, shoving Jamal Roberts out of bounds just shy of the marker; replays appeared to show the running back reaching the ball far enough for a first down, but the spot was upheld by the officials.
Alabama took over and, after Simpson converted on fourth-and-8 with a throw to freshman Lotzeir Brooks, the SEC’s top passer found Hill in the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the Missouri 2 with just over three minutes remaining to put it out of reach.
“We preached all week – shoot, all year – to be elite in critical situations,” Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said. “I think it’s just our team. We pride ourselves on being unbreakable. We know we’re going to execute in those situations.”
Missouri wrapped up its season-opening homestand by losing at Faurot Field for the first time since Oct. 7, 2023.
Alabama returns home to play No. 12 Tennessee next Saturday.
Missouri plays its first road game against Auburn the same day.
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