3 reasons Braves should hold on to Ronald Acuña Jr.

ATLANTA -- A popular question Braves fans have debated over the past few weeks is, “Should Atlanta trade Ronald Acuña Jr.?” But the better question seems to be, “Why would Atlanta trade Acuña right now?”

Let’s look at reasons why the Braves need to keep Acuña:

1) Still a great bargain

The remainder of Acuña’s contract includes two $17 million options, including one for the 2027 season that has already been exercised. His availability and production have diminished as he has played the past two seasons with two surgically repaired knees. But if he’s healthy enough to play consistently, $34 million over these next two seasons would likely be a bargain.

Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki are the top available outfielders on this year’s free-agent market. Even though his production level was diminished over the past two seasons, Acuña still had a better batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and adjusted OPS than Arozarena and Suzuki within this span:

Acuña: .271 BA, .379 OBP, .481 SLG, .860 OPS, 138 OPS+
Arozarena: .259 BA, .357 OBP, .454 SLG, .811 OPS, 133 OPS+
Suzuki: .257 BA, .346 OBP, .476 SLG, .822 OPS, 128 OPS+

Acuña is also three years younger than either of these fellow outfielders. So, if he was a free agent this year, there’s a good chance he would be considered the best available outfielder, at least by potential suitors confident in his ability to consistently stay healthy.

Looking just at what Acuña has done when not on the injured list indicates he would still receive a large payday.

Cody Bellinger entered last year’s free-agent market as a former MVP coming off of a couple of slightly above-average seasons. He still wound up with a five-year, $162.5 million deal from the Yankees. That’s $32.5 million per season.

Bellinger (2024-25): .269 BA, .330 OBP, .455 SLG, .785 OPS, 117 OPS+
Acuña (past two seasons): .271 BA, .379 OBP, .481 SLG, .860 OPS, 138 OPS+

Acuña played 95 games after returning from a torn left anterior cruciate ligament two months into the 2025 season Two left hamstring strains limited him to 107 games this past season. This is something to account for, considering he underwent major knee surgeries after tearing his right ACL in '21 and his left ACL in '24.

Still, even with recent medical history, there’s still reason to think Acuña would garner an average annual value of $30 million-plus if he were a free agent this year.

Should other teams be willing to provide significant returns to benefit from this bargain? It might be tempting. But it’s hard to see the return being significant enough to compensate for what the Braves would be losing.

2) Need for a RH impact bat

Will Acuña ever be the player he was in 2023, when he became the only MLB player to hit 40-plus homers and tally 70-plus steals in a season? That’s highly unlikely. In fact, matching that kind of season was unlikely before he sustained the second major knee injury.

But even his “down seasons” are still pretty impressive. He looked like himself offensively and defensively while producing a .997 OPS over his final 26 regular-season games in 2026. He ended up with 20 homers and 21 stolen bases. This was more in line with his .935 OPS in '25.

Acuña was one of 17 players to produce a 20-20 season this year. Boston’s Jarren Duran (30) and Arozarena (31) were the only older players to do this.

Even a diminished Acuña has the potential to be one of the game’s most productive players.

With the declines Austin Riley and Sean Murphy have experienced over the past few seasons, one of the Braves’ most glaring needs is an additional right-handed impact bat. So, why exacerbate that need by trading Acuña, Atlanta’s most dependable right-handed presence?

3) Mutual motivation

If the Braves were in a rebuild mode, moving Acuña might make some sense. But this team will enter 2027 with aspirations to do more than just advance to the postseason for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons.

At the same time, Acuña will be motivated to regain his place among the game’s elite and further strengthen his market before he becomes a free agent after the 2028 season.

It would seemingly be wise for the Braves to take advantage of this chance to benefit from a determined and hopefully healthy Acuña over the next two years.