After being out with an injury for the past year, for Ronald Acuna Jr., it’s hard to envision a better return to action.
In his debut game of the season, the Braves right fielder took the lead off position in the lineup, to which he fired a 467 foot bomb on his very first attempt at bat, much to the home crowd’s delight. In what was surely a very emotional moment, Acuna Jr. was showered in cheers from the fans, as well as embraced by all his teammates.
This was his first game back in nearly a year, as he suffered a torn ACL on May 26th 2024 in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He then underwent successful surgery on June 6th, and and throughout the next year went through grueling rehab, and even had a brief six game stint with the Braves Minor League affiliate, the Gwinnett Stripers. During the stint, he went 6-15, with two home runs.
The 2023 NL MVP will look to be the piece the Braves need to make a significant playoff run, as they currently sit in third place in the National League East division with a 24-26 record.
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Vincent Stoll is a recent graduate of West Virginia University with his Bachelors in Journalism, with emphasis in Sports and Adventure Media. He is an aspiring sports broadcaster, with hopes of one day being on ESPN or the Golf Channel. Before his senior year of high school, Vincent completed a month-long internship with WVRC Media (Morgantown WV) where he assisted in production of the morning news show, nightly sports show, and further developed his writing skills for broadcast scripts and sports articles. In addition to his internship, he has experience in doing play-by-play for the women’s basketball team at Florida Southwestern State College. Most recently, he covered the WVU Football team during the 2025 season for Mountaineer Playbook, an Emmy Award winning student run sports magazine show.
As a native of Southwest Florida, Vincent grew up 10 minutes away from the spring training facilities for the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers. Personally, he excelled on the golf course, as he has been playing for the past 18 years.
