First baseman Matt Olson now will participate in Monday’s Home Run Derby at Truist Park, replacing right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr., the Braves announced Friday.
Acuña said he decided to pull out of the event for precautionary reasons, after dealing with lower-back tightness during the team’s series against the Athletics earlier this week.
He missed Tuesday’s game, but has started the three since.
In Friday’s 6-5 win over the Cardinals, Acuña went 3-for-5 with an RBI and scored a run.
“First, I just want to apologize to all the fans that I’m not gonna be out there. I really wanted to put on a show for them,” Acuña said. “For me, it’s just more of a precaution more than anything. I’m committed to this team, and I need to be available, and I know that the team needs me, as well. We have an entire second half to play and I need to make sure I’m available for that.
“Last year, I went down with an injury, and I wasn’t able to contribute at all to the team at all. For me, it’s a precaution that I wanna just take to make sure that I can be here and I can be able to commit and contribute to the team in the second half. The team’s my first priority.”
Acuña is still scheduled to start Tuesday’s All-Star Game. He has 11 home runs this season, including two during Wednesday’s victory in Sacramento over the A’s.
Acuña took part in the Home Run Derby in 2019 (Cleveland) and 2022 (Los Angeles). He lost in the first round in ‘22 and in the second round in ‘19.
“Definitely a hard decision just because I think I was one of the first guys MLB approached to just have in the Home Run Derby,” Acuña added. “When I heard the news, I was obviously super excited. But I think it’s just one of those things now that I just gotta put the team first.”
Olson, a Parkview High School graduate, has a team-leading 17 homers this season. He said after Friday’s win he thought it may be a possibility Acuña would drop out of the competition, given the star’s back trouble, but then the Venezuelan hasn’t missed a beat since sitting out Tuesday’s game.
On Friday, however, once Acuña informed officials he would bow out, MLB approached Olson to step up to the plate.
“I think I’d like to sit here and say I just want to enjoy the moment of it and realize how cool it is to do it in your hometown for the home team. But I know I’m a competitor too, and when that thing gets rolling, I’m gonna wanna win it,” Olson said. “It’s something you dream about doing. I went to the last Home Run Derby in Atlanta (at Turner Field in 2000). Had visions of doing it myself, so to be able to get the chance, thank Ronald.”
Olson has participated in the event once before, losing to Trey Mancini in the first round of the eight-man competition in 2021 in Denver. Olson admitted that was a “weird” experience, taking what amounts to batting practice in front of a full stadium.
But that should help him a second time around. That and being back at friendly confines.
“Just being able to know what to expect, and obviously taking a lot of at-bats at Truist, I should be very comfortable,” he said.
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