April 25: Acuna’s contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Gwinnett, the club announced. He’s playing left field and batting sixth for the Braves in his MLB debut.
April 24: The Braves are set to promote top prospect Ronald Acuna to the Major Leagues, Daniel Alvarez Montes of EVTV Miami reports (Twitter link). MLB.com’s Mark Bowman hears the same and adds that Acuna is expected to join the team tomorrow (Twitter link).
The timing of Acuna’s promotion has been a source of consternation among Braves fans all season, as many felt he should’ve been with the club from Opening Day after laying waste to minor league pitching in 2017 and outhitting the vast majority of the Braves’ roster in Spring Training. The Braves, however, understandably appear to have wanted to keep Acuna in Triple-A long enough to delay his free agency by a full year. By keeping him in Triple-A until April 14, Atlanta delayed his free agency from the 2023-24 offseason to the 2024-25 offseason.
Acuna, though, got off to a brutal start in Triple-A Gwinnett, which prompted the Braves to keep the 21-year-old in the minors even longer. Not wanting to promote Acuna to the Majors when he was struggling badly against minor league arms, Atlanta waited for their prized prospect to begin to right the ship at the plate. That’s been taking place over the past week, as Acuna has collected 1 11 hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in 37 plate appearances.
Entering the 2018 season, virtually every set of prospect rankings from major outlets considered Acuna to be the game’s top overall prospect. It was a rapid ascent for Acuna, who entered the 2017 campaign as a consensus top 100 prospect but not near the top of any notable rankings. His meteoric rise began last season when he started in Class-A Advanced and skyrocketed to Triple-A by the end of the year. The Venezuelan-born slugger didn’t just move up the ladder, though; his numbers actually improved upon each promotion, culminating with a .344/.393/.548 line in Triple-A.
Overall, Acuna slashed .325/.374/.522 with 21 homers, 31 doubles, eight triples and 44 steals across three minor league levels in 2017 — and he did so all before turning 20 years of age this past December. Even before reading any of the many glowing scouting reports on Acuna — and there’s no shortage of them, as Baseball America, MLB.com, Fangraphs, Baseball Prospectus and ESPN are among the many that have lauded him — it’s readily apparent that he’s a significantly more advanced talent than most prospects. That type of production in Double-A and Triple-A is rare for prospects who are several years older than Acuna, even, but doing so at age 19 is a rather remarkable accomplishment.
It stands to reason that Acuna will be thrown directly into the mix in left field with the Braves, who managed to jettison Matt Kemp this offseason in order to create an easy path to at-bats for the ballyhooed young slugger. Preston Tucker has been holding down the fort in left field and performed admirably as a stopgap, but his bat has cooled substantially since a hot start to the season (.514 OPS over his past 44 PAs).
With Acuna now penciled in as the primary left fielder, Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis will occupy the team’s other two outfield spots. Tucker or Peter Bourjos remain on hand as reserve options in the outfield, though it’s possible that one could be a roster casualty to make way for Acuna. The Braves already designated one reserve, Lane Adams, for assignment last week.
Finally
Profound.
Hypocritical.
Unoriginal
Ice cream sandwich
Unoriginal? Repetitive then?
Here we go gentleman.
YESSSSS!
Now maybe all the fans will quit crying about bringing him up. Sheesh!
Go ATL!
I mean… Yeah. Cuz the thing they’re complaining about not happening will have happened, so there wouldn’t be a reason to continue.
Lol. Excellent point!
I will never understand how any fan can complain that their team is keeping a prospect down for a few weeks to start a season when in the end it will gain them a whole extra year. I was all for it when the Cubs did it with Kris Bryant.
If their team has a legitimate shot at winning a tough division and that player means an extra win or two I get it. But, the Braves are just getting to the point where they will be consider contenders so keeping him down was smart, as it’s highly unlikely they will contend this year. But, it will make for an interesting year on their rebuild with him up, and if their other prospects pan out all of the fans will be happy to have that extra year six or so years from now.
Yeah I know. If they are a fan of the team, they should want the extra year. I would love if the Orioles had another year on Machado so we didn’t have to trade him at the deadline.
For pennies on the dollar when they should have traded him last year.
Exactly why an extra year of control would be useful. In the offseason we were offered Brandon Drury. For Manny Machado.
Or, the more likely scenario, Baltimore would’ve hung onto him this year and tried to move him next offseason – and receive an offer similar to Brandon Drury…
The Orioles had every opportunity to shop Machado before this year but didn’t.
Will Atl fans even show up for that playoffs? Before you bite my head off, they didn’t … many times before.
The era begins.
But he’s not a pitcher 😛
yet you still swing and miss!
HALLELUJAR PRAISE JEEBUS!
So it begins
They still have one of the worst bullpens in baseball!
it’s not that bad. the walk are terribly excoriating to watch, but there are some great arms at the back end. don’t let this bad stretch fool you, especially with all these good, young arms on the way 🙂
O’s fan here but interesting to hear the excitement re the call-up.
If he’s unowned in your fantasy league… pick him up, it’s your lucky day.
Thank you Captain Obvious.
Wow, youre witty.
If he is unownes in your fantasy league – you need a challenge.
If I’m Snitker I’m putting him right in at clean up. Batting him there will give him plenty of pitches to hit when Freeman is in front of him. I doubt he does but who knows.
ditto
They had him playing leadoff at AAA before Bautista then 2nd after with Bautista betting leadoff. I’m sure it was just too get the most ABs possible, but I could see a lineup with Acuña at 5 and Bautista at 4 in the short term.
I bet they ease him into that……..start him off in the 5-hole or the 2-hole…..let him get comfortable before he bats 3rd or 4th. I think he’d see better pitches hitting IN FRONT OF Freeman….in the 3-hole, although, assuming that Bautista can still pound the ball (big question)…..maybe it’s Inciarte, Acuna, Freeman, Bautista…..
Albies better be hitting 1 or 2. A switch-hitter with OBP/SLG and speed! Though I don’t know where to put Inciarte, I wish our 1-2-3 would be eventually Albies, Acuna, Freeman, but it might make more sense: Inciarte, Albies, Freeman, Acuna/Bautista, Markakis, Flowers/Suzuki, Swanson.
Not a bad lineup if Bautista isn’t his 2017 self.
I think Albie’s is the future lead off hitter but not yet. Right now he isn’t any better at it than Inciarte.
If he’s still somehow available in fantasy, pick him up now… it’s your lucky day
LOL out Loud!!
What are you trying to say here?
PIN Number
SAT test!
ATM machine!
ABS Brakes
Wait, he had one good season and he ends up being the #1 overall prospect? Okay.
That wasn’t a good season, that was a great season.
Arguably the most impressive minor league season, ever. Across three levels as a 19 year old.
Relax, he didn’t even break .900 OPS. It was an really impressive season, and bouncing between three teams and skill levels is really difficult, but the most impressive Minor league season ever? Slow your roll…
Yea and it wasn’t 1 good season. He crushed it the season before also.
Cool, the next Delmon Young.
Steve, y’all should put the accent mark on this guy’s name. It’s one that significantly affects how it’s pronounced.
Good point. In the mlbtr picture for this article,
You can actually see it on the back of his jersey.
It’s a tilde. ~
He actually goes by Ronald Acuña Jr..
And he didn’t have just one good season, he was just finally healthy for the majority of one season…
Also, it wasn’t just a really good season. Last year for Acuña Jr., he put up a historically great season, especially for a 19 year old…
It was a “historically great season” BECAUSE he was a 19 year old. If he put up those numbers in his early-to-mid 20’s, it still would’ve been a really good year but not anywhere near “historic.”
Andruw Jones 1996 was better.
Yeah, you mean the Braves legendary outfielder Andruw Jones? I’m K with that.
Better than 111 hits in 37 plate appearances? Lol!!
There’s a difference between “historically great” and “best ever.”
And So it begins
Overhyped. Not nearly as good as victor robles in terms of skill set. Hitting .215 in aaa this year.
Debatable. And small sample size.
He hit .344 in AAA last year, but go ahead and use your small sample size.
TWSS
Overhyped? What 20 year old that has his ridiculous skill set isn’t? Yeah. Wish I could get those few seconds back that I spent reading your post.
Anthony Rizzo is hitting .146. He must be awful.
Rizzo is definitely a wasted roster space lol
Trade him
Trea Turner is hitting .240 clearly last year was a fluke and now he is a bust.
sounds like a nationals fan
He has always started slow at all minor league levels and then heated up as the season went on. You can look it up if you are of the mind.
This is similar to all the Ohtani hype, but on a much smaller scale. If he doesn’t let all the pressure for him to perform get to him, he will do great.
But Braves fans have to be realistic and know he’s NOT going to go 4 for 4 or 5 for 5 every night. He will come up with the bases loaded with 2 out and strike out occasionally. But he will also double and clear the bases occasionally too. Just give him time and he will not disappoint.
Hopefully these high expectations, most unreasonable, won’t weigh to heavy on this kids shoulders. He’s still super young. Don’t expect him to be all world right out the gate. But the braves sure need that. I think he can handle this pressure but I hope he’s 100% out of that slump from AAA. He needed to struggle a little, learn to come back as he hasn’t struggled in his time in the minors much
Acuña is 20 years old, not 21 (Dec 18).
Several places have it correct, but one line remains “Acuna, though, got off to a brutal start in Triple-A Gwinnett, which prompted the Braves to keep the 21-year-old in the minors even longer”
Cant wait to see him play. Heard a lot about him but never got a chance to watch him play.
French Toast is so much better with powder sugar on it.
Accurate.
Please ban this idiot!
Stud, 111 hits in only 37 AB’s. That’s a 3.000 batting average.
Almost unreal
I’m guessing he hits something like 280, 330 OBA, maybe 20+HR and 30 + doubles. Which is great but will undoubtedly disappoint some based on the hype.
Anyone disappointed with a 20 year old rookie putting up those numbers knows absolutely nothing about baseball. That would absolutely be living up to the hype.
I think if he isn’t Mike Trout in year one there will be those who will say he was overhyped.
And, upon reflection, I’d probably drop the batting average 10 points and say he’ll hit around 20 HR’s, and those would still be great numbers, particularly in addition to however many steals he gets.
Who is Ronald Acuna? Who are the Braves?
Well here we go
Best of luck. But it does look like he was rushed. 243 abs most at any stop before being kept down to add on to his already 243 abs at AAA. Meaning they never really gave pitchers a chance to adjust at any level and him to adjust to the pitchers. It appears that pitchers may have adjusted or something got to him mentally to start the year.because he was off a bit. If he turns it on right away and never looks back that’d be fun to watch. I’m worried without time for an adjustment period at any stop that he may have some early prolonged slumps. MLB pitching is a different animal….
But what do you really think ? Will he ADJUST or not?
He seems to have the tools to make adjustments. He could start out as Buxton 2.0. Hell he could be one of those guys that can make AAA look down right stupid but never make the jump to the pros. I’d figure something similar to Buxton with a quicker return to what he was billed as. He looks to have an advanced batter’s eye, so that should help him. Buxton never had the ability to select when he swung like Acuna.
The Braves should try and get another year out of Acuna. The guy is not hitting spectacular in triple a so why prmote him. Bautista is still to be seen.
They already gained an extra year of control but delaying his promotion until today.
He dominated last year and in ST. Got off to a very slow start but the last week or more has been hitting/ playing much better.
Why not promote him now? you lose nothing by doing so
Why is anyone really focusing on his 2018 AAA numbers?? He dominated last year, AFL and spring training – yet 2-3 weeks of AAA ball where the most important thing was not getting hurt (i.e. Victor Robles) and all of a sudden he’s “not ready”.
Though I hope not, I wouldn’t doubt he has been dialing it down at AAA, in need of more of a challenge. Here we go.
I AM ACUNA AND I WILL SHOW YOU THE MEANING OF PAIN
Excited to see this guy in action.
Yes, it’s going to be fun to see what Acuna Matata can do! The Braves are just lousy with talent right now. We’re going to see some very good prospects coming up in the next year or two and I have to say that as a Giants fan I’m really jealous
Acuna is 20 years 128 days or so old according to the braves website. A major league player before he is old enough to legally drink in the states. Makes me smile thinking about some of the things he has ahead of him, first game, first hits, new friends, a whole life and career ahead if he is able to make it.
Not to mention a broken marriage, a violent outburst in a New York hotel, a few PED scandals, numerous lifelong injuries and painkiller addictions, and– if he’s lucky– a stint as a transient on the streets of Los Angeles after he’s out of the game at age 32.
Ain’t baseball wonderful? Makes me smile thinking about the bright future he has ahead of him!
Playing primarily in left though? I get that Markakis’ advanced d metrics have trended upwards this year, but he’s obviously due for a regression to career norms. Slotting him in left and Acuna in right just makes so much more sense from a defensive standpoint.
You can feel the excitement in braves nation today
Snitker has not been using his bullpen well.
“He’s gonna be a bust” -Mets fans mentally scarred by Chipper Jones
Hope this kid does well!! Atlanta is a baseball city and the rebuilding is almost complete…. from a jays fan
“That’s been taking place over the past week, as Acuna has collected 1 11 hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in 37 plate appearances.”
111 HITS IN 37 PLATE APPEARANCES! HE’S INVINCIBLE!
OK, Braves fans – when Acuna is batting we need everybody on the third base side of the field to say “Acuna”, and everyone of the first base side to say “Matada”. Regardless if he sinks or swims, let’s have some fun with this.
Good thing he’s not on the Phillies, fans would be throwing cans of Tuna at him!
After watching him in spring training, his swing is just different, as they say.. Bat speed, wrist and hand quickness are off the charts..
Presently the line up is the way it should be. Albies will be the better lead off hitter but presently he isn’t better than Inciarte so let him develope more.
I think the future line up will be:
Albies
Acuna
Freemen
Markakis–>Riley/FA
Swanson
Inciarte
Flower –> Future Catcher p