ATLANTA — Tucked into the left corner of the Atlanta Braves clubhouse, the lockers of Jorge Mateo, Ozzie Albies, Mauricio Dubón and Ronald Acuña Jr. sit adjacent. More often than not, that pocket is alive with animated Spanish banter and laughter echoing across the room.Most of their teammates have no idea what’s being said. Really, they don’t need to because the energy and camaraderie are enough to earn chuckles from anyone nearby.It spills into the back of the team plane, where Acuña and the group blast Spanish music. It carries into visiting clubhouses, where Acuña stretches out on the couch while the chatter never seems to stop. And, of course, it makes its way into the dugout, where Acuña is often at the center of attention.“It’s contagious,” Dubón said. “You see him happy and everything playing the game and having fun. We feed off that energy. We need that in the lineup.”But with Acuña not around lately as he works his way back from the strained left hamstring he suffered June 9 in Chicago, that corner has been a bit quieter.Ken’s Week in Baseball: What will the Mets do with Francisco Lindor?Ken RosenthalYou could point to that injury against the Chicago White Sox as the moment the Braves’ season started to decline. Atlanta is 11-19 since Acuña was placed on the injured list, with the league’s third-worst winning percentage during that stretch.Acuña slashed .251/.373/.421 with seven home runs, 15 stolen bases and 31 runs in 53 games. Without him setting the tone, the entire lineup felt the effect. During a brutal June stretch, the offense tumbled to the bottom of MLB in runs, home runs and overall slash lines (batting average, on-base percentage and slugging).Lacking Acuña’s top-of-the-order power and speed, the heart of the order saw fewer mistake pitches, leading to frequent scoring droughts when the Braves were held to two or fewer runs.“I think you can ask any pitcher in the league; they don’t want to start the game against Ronald Acuña Jr.,” Matt Olson said. “To have that guy at the top of the order who sets the tone, even if he’s not hitting a homer on the first pitch, as we’ve seen many times, he’s working a good at-bat.“He gets on base. He can steal bases. He runs the bases as well and causes some headaches for other teams.”Acuña’s return is on the horizon. He began a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League, where he hit a grand slam in one game before moving to Triple-A Gwinnett and playing two games in Toledo.There’s a slight chance Acuña could return in the upcoming four-game series against the San Diego Padres, but Braves manager Walt Weiss said Acuña could see a few more games in Gwinnett this week and is expected to play outfield when he returns.Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said on MLB Network Radio that they spent more time on the rehab process to strengthen Acuña’s hamstring, as he’s been sidelined twice this season with the same injury.But when he’s back on the field, the team will feed off his presence.“It’s always great when you look across the room, and you see a guy like (Acuña),” Weiss said. “(He’s) a guy that can do things on a field that you maybe you hadn’t seen before.”Drake Baldwin takes important lessons from slumpSometimes failure is necessary for success. Just ask Drake Baldwin, who learned so much about himself and baseball when he was enduring a rough stretch when he came off the injured list with a right oblique strain.“During that little bit of a slump, I just wanted a hit,” Baldwin said. “When you try to do that, you start chasing, you start swinging at bad pitches, start having weak contact that doesn’t help the team win.”In Sunday’s 8-5 win, he went 5-for-5 with two home runs. He joined seven other players in the Atlanta era (1966) with a minimum of five hits and two homers in a game, and the first since Albies did so in June 2021.He has recorded multiple hits in each of his past three games and in six of his 11 contests since July 5.Over that span, Baldwin tied for the major-league lead with 19 hits and 15 RBIs while ranking second among qualified hitters in batting average (.452) and on-base percentage (.540) and fifth in OPS (1.278).“It’s great to see a young kid like (Baldwin), second year in the league, turning around like this,” Weiss said. “It didn’t beat him down. He didn’t stay down. He’s back to being one of the best hitters in the league.”Austin Riley swinging a hot batAustin Riley had been working nonstop in the cages and during batting practice leading up to the last day of the first half as he battled through the worst season of his career.But during the All-Star break, Riley paused baseball activity. Instead, he dedicated the four-day hiatus to spending time with his family, chasing his kids around and remaining present.Nobody on the Braves needed the break more than Riley, and nobody needed a strong start to the second half like the Braves’ third baseman.Riley went 6-for-12 this weekend with three home runs — including two against Texas Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi that traveled 416 feet and 413 feet — and had four RBIs in the series finale.