Ronald Acuña Jr. is Must See Baseball Right Now
It's good a time to be 20-year old Baseball Savant Ronald Acuña Jr right now. It's even better when you see why---in person.
Acuña did something Tuesday night largely unheard of in baseball circles and is having more fun doing it than anyone should be allowed to.
What they didn't add in this Tweet was the following: It was Acura's 3rd straight leadoff home run and the 2nd time in a row he's done it on the very first pitch he saw in the game.
I got to see what he's doing in person Tuesday night and man, words cannot describe the energy this kid is bringing.
It's actual "Must See" baseball right now because you just don't know what he's going to do next.
In this case--"It" was a 3-run opposite field HR in the 7th inning which broke a close game wide open....
I'm hoping this wasn't their way of trying to cool him off after the game:
To put things in perspective---here's the current run the Venezuelan phenom is currently on:
---5 Straight Games with a Home Run
---Youngest Player ever to hit Home Runs in 5 Straight Games
---3 Straight Leadoff Home Runs
---Longest Leadoff HR streak since 1996
Oh, did I mention the kid was hitting .261 a little over a week ago? He's hitting .288 now.
Coming out of the All-Star break, Braves Manager Brian Snitker made the decision to move the "Wunderkind" to the leadoff spot in the lineup, followed by best friend and All-Star 2B Ozzie Albies.
The Braves have never looked back.
Obviously the question here is this: Can he keep this pace up? The answer is of course "No"....
But the follow up is "How good can he be?" the answer is pretty damn good. For those of you looking for indicators about his ability to adjust....
Just look at what he did in the Minor Leagues in 2017. Acuña started 2017 with the Braves highest level A League team where he hit .287 in 28 games.
Promoted to AA Mississippi, he jumped to .326 with 9 HR's in 57 games....
He ended 2017 in AAA Gwinnett where yes, he actually hit .344 with 9 more HR's in 54 games....
My point is this: The kid got better at each level....He adjusted....
Which should scare the crap out of the National League right now.
I should tell you as a Life Long Braves fan, the 2018 season has been an absolute blast to watch. Tuesday was the 4th game we've been to this season and each one has gotten more and more fun.
The Braves are on a serious roll right now, Tuesday's win moved the to 2 games up on the 2nd place Philadelphia Phillies. It's the Braves 4th straight win and they're 67-51 on the season.
Will this run continue? No. The Braves are playing the Miami Marlins this week. It's not possible to keep up the pace young Mr. Acuña is currently on over the rest of the season. But he's not going away. He's not going to be a "Flash in the Pan".....
With Albies and Acuña, the Braves have two key pieces who will be around for a long, long time. They're already good. They're only going to get better....
