Braves legend objectively hits back at Ronald Acuna Jr. after Brian Snitker drama

Amidst all of their struggles as a ball club, the Atlanta Braves have found new ways to hit the headlines. In a recent incident, injury-embattled star Ronald Acuna Jr. released a controversial statement that involved skipper Brian Snitker. As a result, team legend Jon Smoltz shared his thoughts about the internal issue between player and manager.

In a now deleted post on social media, Acuna Jr. hurled criticism at Snitker at the way the latter acted during Saturday night's game against the Minnesota Twins. The outfield star tweeted "If it were me, they would take me out of the game," after Snitker's lack of reaction when Jarred Kelenic was thrown out at second base after admiring a ball that would eventually be short of the fence.

"There's no place to make that claim. You made an emotional claim that probably had to get deleted, which it did. You deal with that differently, you learn how to deal with it [as] we all make mistakes," said Smoltz. (4:50-5:10)

Smoltz shared his thoughts on baseball personality Ben Verlander's podcast. He further called out the Braves superstar for creating unnecessary issues within the ball club.

"To say somthing like that to creat more drama that was dealth with a long time ago, obviously still bothers Ronald Acuna Jr."(5:10-5:23)

The Braves legend further backed skipper Brian Snitker's action (lack thereof) when Jarred Kelenic made the blunder during the contest against the Twins. The former Cy Young winner elaborated that the handling of such instances should be a case-by-cases basis and not generalized for all players in a ball club.

"A manager has to do things at times to make a difference in a player's life when he thinks that it's time for it. This is not apples and apples. If Kelenic would have done it four or five different times, I guarantee you, this scenario would have been the same." (4:13-4:34)

Braves ace Spencer Strider hits injury list after one start

After just one start back from a UCL surgery in April 2024, Braves ace Spencer Strider has once again hit the hit the injury list with a right hamstring issue.

Strider made his return from a year-long layoff on April 16 against the Blue Jays in Toronto. He pitched five innings of two-run ball on five base hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Despite a seemingly solid outing on paper, Strider incurred the loss as the Braves could produce just one run in a 3-1 contest on the road.