Acuña, Soto, Buxton: A Star Outfielder Injury Roundup

Happy Wednesday. Would you like some sad news? Are your cheek muscles getting tired from constantly smiling because everything in the world keeps humming along so smoothly? Let’s bring you down with a roundup of star outfielder injury news. We’ll go in ascending order of scariness, so if you don’t feel sufficiently depressed at the beginning, just stick with it. We’ll get you there.

We start in Minnesota, where Byron Buxton is headed to the IL with left ribcage inflammation. Buxton was removed from Saturday’s game after experiencing pain in his ribs while he was running. At the time, the Twins said Buxton would be day-to-day with “left side soreness.” He hasn’t spoken to the press since Friday, so all updates have come from manager Rocco Baldelli. On Saturday, Baldelli told reporters, “We’re just going to get an image tomorrow morning just to see what we’re dealing with. He actually felt it more running than anything else.” The MRI delivered good news, revealing only “cartilage irritation” rather than structural damage to the ribs. The team again classified Buxton as day-to-day. “It’s a good outcome,” said Baldelli. “We’ll see how he is tomorrow and so on, but to be day-to-day with what he left the game with, it’s a good thing. We’ll measure him out, get him looked at by the trainers each day, get him a lot of treatment and hopefully he’ll be back very soon.”

Unfortunately, Buxton hasn’t gotten back into a game and the Twins have lost three of four, cementing their status as deadline sellers. Harrison Bader has taken over in center field, but he’s widely expected to be moved at the deadline. Buxton has a no-trade clause and recently reiterated his stated desire to say with the Twins for life, but the injury seems likely to silence any remaining whispers about the possibility that he could be traded too.

The team decided to give Buxton more time to heal, and moving him to the IL essentially means that he’ll get another week of rest. “Buck’s doing fine,” said Baldelli. “It’s just he’s not going to be ready in the next day or two. And that’s really all it boils down to. He’s hopefully going to be ready close to the time when the IL [stint ends]. We never say anything definitively, but we think there’s a reasonable chance he’ll be ready sooner than later.”

This marks Buxton’s second IL stint of the season (he also dealt with a concussion in May), but as long as the rib injury turns out to be as minor as advertised, this could still be the year when Buxton finally combines excellent play and good health. At age 31 and after countless knee issues, he’s still somehow one of the fastest players in the game. His 146 wRC+ is the second best of his career. He’s currently at 85 games played, and until the injury, he still had a chance to break the career high of 140 he set in 2017. With 3.9 WAR and 23 homers, he’s well within range of his career highs of 4.5 and 28. That said, August does seem to be his kryptonite; his 318 career PAs in August are more than 100 fewer than he has in any other month.

It’s perfectly reasonable to hear alarm bells any time Buxton suffers an injury. And although it’s never encouraging to hear upbeat report after upbeat report while a player’s return date gets pushed further and further back, the Twins genuinely don’t seem too worried. Every indication is that the IL stint is a precaution.

We venture next to San Diego, where Juan Soto fouled an 0-2 breaking ball from Ryan Bergert directly off the top of his left foot in the fourth inning last night. After hop-limping halfway down the first base line in obvious pain and conferring with a trainer, Soto stayed in and ripped a hard-hit grounder that would have resulted in a base hit if not for a diving stop by Jake Cronenworth. Limping back to first base would be Soto’s last act in the game. “I tried to run, tried to push,” he said after the game. “Couldn’t do it.”

The very, very good news is that Soto passed the trainer’s checks for broken bones, and his post-game X-rays were negative. Asked whether he expected the injury to linger, Soto replied, “No, I think it’s going to be good. We’ve just got to get the swelling down. Whenever the swelling is down, I think we’re going to be good.” Asked about his pain level, he said, “It’s actually numb. I don’t feel anything right now.” Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Soto was day-to-day, and even raised the possibility that that he could pinch-hit during today’s game. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo wrote, “Mets officials are confident nothing is broken and expect Soto back within a matter of days.”

This all seems like the best-case scenario, but if you’re looking for a reason for further anxiety – that is to say, if you’re a Mets fan – you can start with the fact that swelling can sometimes obscure a small fracture. That’s what happened to Kyle Tucker last year. Any development that has Soto scuffling rather than shuffling is scary. Still, DiComo reported that the Mets didn’t think that a follow-up MRI or CT scan would be necessary. Time will tell, but as of Tuesday night, things looked about as good as they could look. The 26-year-old Soto has been remarkably durable to this point in his career, never playing fewer than 150 games since his first full season in 2019 (aside from the shortened 2020 season).

The Mets are just half a game back of the Phillies for the lead in the NL East. Any time spent without one of the game’s greatest hitters constitutes a big loss. That said, Soto might be due for a break anyway. Although his overall 145 wRC+ represents standard Soto excellence, he’s batting just .156 with a 74 wRC+ over his last 18 games. As for how they might cover for a Soto absence, the Mets lineup has a few moving pieces. Jeff McNeil and Tyrone Taylor platoon in center, and Starling Marte often serves as DH against lefties, which moves Mark Vientos to third base and Ronny Mauricio to the bench. Marte has only started five games in the field this season, so it seems likely that Taylor will stay in center while McNeil slides over to cover right. Then again, it’s worth noting that Marte is running a 124 wRC+ and has been hot lately, while Taylor has a wRC+ of 59 on the season and -8 for the month of July. The Mets might be willing to deal with the defensive downgrade of McNeil in center and Marte in right if it keeps a hot bat in the lineup. Lastly, things could get really crazy, as MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported yesterday that the Mets are the frontrunner for Luis Robert Jr., and have discussed the possibility of sending Luisangel Acuña to Chicago as part of a deal.

We’ll end in Atlanta but stay with the Acuña family, as sadly, Ronald Acuña Jr. is headed back to the injured list with another leg injury. Acuña is officially listed with right Achilles tightness, but he will undergo an MRI in Atlanta today to get a firm diagnosis. Wearing a walking boot in the clubhouse after Tuesday night’s game in Kansas City, the star right fielder explained that he’d originally injured himself scoring from first on a double on Monday night. He exacerbated the injury in the sixth inning last night, limping noticeably while chasing down a foul ball. He wagged his finger at the dugout to quash any thoughts of removing him from the game, then pulled up short after nearly making a running catch on a double in the gap. He reluctantly exited the game after the play.

Acuña dutifully fielded questions from reporters after the game, stopping occasionally to wipe away tears. “I think it definitely got worse today,” he said through an interpreter. “I told them [the Braves] yesterday, and everybody said take today off. But I’ve just missed so much time with injuries, and I didn’t want to miss any more time.” He said that he didn’t feel a pop and mostly felt pain when he put pressure on his leg. Asked whether he was concerned there could be a tear, he replied, “Yes, of course. It’s an injury. I’m worried.” The lack of the signifiers that normally come to mind when you hear about an Achilles injury certainly sounds like a good thing, but this is scary news for a player who has had far too much bad luck in recent years.

Because everything is already going wrong for Atlanta this season, Acuña’s injury shouldn’t have much of an effect on a team that dropped out of contention weeks ago thanks to an underperforming offense and a pitching staff decimated by injuries. Jarred Kelenic and Eli White would make sense as a platoon duo to cover right field; Kelenic was recalled from Triple-A this morning. For Acuña, though, a significant injury would be devastating both personally and professionally.

Acuña tore his right ACL in July 2021, then made an extremely fast recovery, returning at the end of April 2022. He didn’t look quite like himself, running a 115 wRC+ and, for the first time, grading out as a net negative in right field according to Statcast. You already know about Acuña’s monster 2023 season. He hit 41 homers and stole 73 bases en route to an MVP and 9.2 WAR. However, he didn’t look quite right in 2024 and tore his left ACL in May after just 49 games. The Braves made sure to proceed deliberately this time around. Despite reports of 500-foot homers during spring training workouts, Acuña’s minor league rehab stint didn’t start until May 13, two weeks shy of a full year since his injury.

Acuña has looked every bit himself since he returned to Atlanta. With a 179 wRC+, he’s hit even better than he did during his MVP campaign. And although his sprint speed is actually a hair faster than it was in 2023, he’s also been more cautious, attempting just five stolen bases. It looked for all the world like he was back to 100% and making an effort to stay healthy. Still, anyone who has suffered leg injuries can recognize the pattern. You injure one leg, then overcompensate with the other, which causes another injury and starts the cycle again.

There’s no way to know yet what’s actually going, but if the injury is serious, he’s looking at his third straight partial season and his fourth in the past six seasons. It’s also worth at least acknowledging that 2026 is the last year on his contract, though he’s not going anywhere. Atlanta has club options for 2027 and 2028, and because Acuña is one of the game’s best and most underpaid players, it’s more or less impossible to imagine a scenario in which the team would decline those. Each option is for $17 million with a $10 million buyout, which means that declining one would only save $7 million. Even last year, in the worst, shortest season of his career, Acuña was worth more than that.

This morning, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reported that Acuña’s discomfort is “in the upper Achilles/lower right calf region. Preliminary tests provided no reason to believe has a significant injury… If results match current expectations, there’s a chance Acuña could play again in 2-3 weeks.” That would be an ideal scenario. Acuña would return in August with a bit more than a month to ease himself back into form for a team with no reason to push him too hard. Then he would have an entire offseason to get as healthy as possible. As this is a lost season for the Braves, it might even make more sense to simply shut Acuña down. It’s hard to imagine him acquiescing to such a decision, but his health means so much to the team. After everything he’s been through, Acuña certainly deserves some good news. For now, everything depends on the MRI.