Atlanta Braves: We should absolutely be comparing Ronald Acuña to Jason Heyward

When an exciting prospect is about to make his MLB debut, it’s natural for him to draw some far-fetched comparisons, and some that seem a bit more realistic. Analysts always want to compare up-and-comers to Hall of Fame players, but the Braves’ number-one prospect draws a much more recent comparison.

The Atlanta Braves have something special in Ronald Acuña, and that’s a fact. He’s drawing comparisons to Andruw Jones and even Ken Griffey Jr. Acuña has left his mark at each minor league level, and he’s currently wrecking Arizona Fall League pitching. The kid can’t be contained, but it’s time to make a comparison that no one wants to make.

Entering the 2010 season, Jason Heyward was baseball’s top prospect, ahead of both Giancarlo Stanton and Stephen Strasburg. Heyward did everything right in the minor leagues, He was batting .300 or better anywhere he went, and at just 19-years-old, he had more than earned the right to be called a number-one prospect.

Before breaking onto the MLB scene, Heyward himself drew comparisons to Griffey, and rightfully so. However, don’t think that this is the only thing that Jason Heyward and Ronald Acuña have in common. Their respective levels of play at 19-years-old were quite similar:

Granted, Heyward only played three games in AAA, and didn’t record a single extra-base hit there. Nonetheless, the numbers at 19 are very close, with Heyward actually having a slight edge with his high walk rate and lower strikeout rate.

The Comparison

Ronald Acuña won’t ever match Heyward’s 6’5″, 240lb frame, but what he has matched in terms of prospect value is his ability to crush baseballs and split gaps. You don’t slug .500+ against guys much older than you for an entire year by accident, just as Heyward didn’t accidentally walk just as often as he struck out.

The main difference between Heyward and Acuña at the minor league level is plate discipline. At 19, Acuña struck out twice as often as J-Hey, and walked at a lower rate. Other than these two non-contact stats, the two were extra-base hit machines, and Acuña swiped 44 bags to Heyward’s 10.

Ronald Acuña has the lone tool that Heyward lacked as a prospect in his speed and ability to steal bases. Heyward wasn’t slow, but his speed didn’t play into great base-running like Acuña’s has.

It’s fair to say that, at 19-years-old, Ronald Acuña is a free-swinging, speedy version of Jason Heyward at 19.

What went wrong with Heyward?

Fans hear ‘Ronald Acuña’ and ‘Jason Heyward’ in the same breath and scoff, due to the nature of Heyward’s MLB career. However, it cannot be assumed that what went wrong in his career will also go wrong with Acuña. In fact, the Atlanta Braves have already avoided one fault this time around.

Jason Heyward played three games at the AAA level before being called up to the MLB. Many people believe that AA experience is just as valuable as AAA experience, but we may be seeing that this isn’t true via Heyward’s MLB career.

In 2009, Jason Heyward was 5.6 years younger than the average AA hitter, and 8.3 years younger than the average AAA hitter. That’s a relatively huge 2.7 year gap between the two levels. Hitters in AAA had, on average, 2.7 years more experience than AA hitters, and Heyward only played three games with those more experienced guys before being deemed ready for the MLB.

AAA experience is crucial to a player’s development, especially at 19. This is the closest a prospect will get to facing MLB-level competition before actually having to do so. The Atlanta Braves seemingly realized this with Ronald Acuña, and made sure he got plenty of AAA time in 2017… never mind the prospect-laden Arizona Fall League.

Another thing that helped derail Jason Heyward’s path to stardom was actually his size. Being 6’5″ works well for some, but it didn’t work for Heyward. He’s just too big for himself. His long arms created a long swing, and it’s something he’s still struggling to fix. This longer swing was okay against mediocre pitching in the minors, but not against the top-tier pitching of the MLB.

Standing at just 6’0″ is a blessing for Ronald Acuña. A smaller body and shorter arms will leave less room for error once he’s up against the best of the best pitching, and he likely won’t run into the mechanical issues that Heyward so unfortunately has.

A better Heyward?

While there’s a laundry list of similarities between Heyward and Acuña at 19-years-old, it’s important to know that the size and speed differences between the two will have drastic implications on their respective MLB careers.

Simply put, Ronald Acuña is just built better to be a true five-tool player in the MLB. Heyward may have been just as talented as Acuña, if not more talented, but his body hindered his ability to convert that talent into success.

Minor league stat comparisons between these two highly-touted Atlanta Braves prospects show how similar their skill sets are, but will be no indication of similarity between their big league careers.

Next: Could the Braves be in on Stanton?

Ronald Acuña will be a better Jason Heyward. Period.