While he’s been incredible so far, what is the ceiling for the Atlanta Braves rookie superstar?
At 20 years old, Ronald Acuna is doing things that most kids his age can only dream about. Playing an integral part on a major league baseball team and producing at a high level to hopefully lead them into the postseason for the first time since 2013. We spent all of the 2017 season dreaming about the days that out future phenom would be in Atlanta and mashing home runs into the hot steamy nights at Suntrust Park. Now we are here, and I think its already safe to say Acuna will not be our next Andy Marte, Wilson Betemit, or Jordan Schafer. He’s going to be good for a really long time as long as his body holds up. Let’s take a look at some of the greatest ever to play the game and see how Acuna stacks up in their first full year.
Acuna at the moment is hitting .286, with 10 stolen bases. He also currently sits at 19 home runs and has 43 RBI’s. His OPS at the moment is .910. Keep all these numbers in mind while reading this article.
The first player we are going to compare Acuna against is Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr. I think we would all agree that if Acuna is anything close to Griffey, we will have one of the best players in the game.
Griffey, like Acuna, played his first full MLB season when he was 20 years old. He played in 155 games and had exactly 600 at bats. The kid batted an even .300 which is just points ahead of where Acuna is now (.286). Griffey also hit 22 dingers and drove in 80. If Acuna stays healthy the rest of the season, he will pass by the 22 Home runs and will probably fall a bit short of the RBI total. Griffey’s OPS was .847 and Acuna is currently at .910. As you can see here, Acuna is on much of the same path as Griffey was in his early days. Let’s just hope injuries don’t take a toll on Acuna like they did Griffey.
Next up is Another Hall of Famer, Andre Dawson. Dawson was a little older in his first full season as he was 22. He appeared in 139 games and had 525 at bats. Dawson also hit .282 with 19 HR and 65 RBI. Lastly, Dawson had an OPS of .800. As you can see Acuna should beat all these numbers this year with potentially less at bats than Dawson had. Again, if he matches the career of Andre Dawson, I think we will be fine.
Next up is Mr. Brave himself, the real home run king, Hank Aaron. I am not in any way saying Acuna might hit 700+ home runs in his career (That would be amazing though) but this is just to point out how rare someone with as much talent as Acuna has comes around, and we should be thanking our stars he is on our team.
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Hank Aaron in his 20 year old season had 468 at bats in 122 games. He hit .280 with 13 dingers and 69 RBI’s. OPS of .769. I know some detractors might say this was well over 50 years ago and they’re right but still, the numbers that Acuna is putting up should surpass every one of those.
Let’s compare Acuna to Barry Bonds now. Barry was 21 in his first full season with the Pirates. He appeared in 113 games and had 413 at bats. He had a dismal .223 batting average and surprising only 16 home runs, and 48 ribbies. His OPS was .746. Now, say what you want about Barry and we all know what he did. The fact is he was a great ballplayer in his early days as well. Was he on the juice then, who knows that answer? The bottom line is, even a year older than Acuna is now, he didn’t put up nearly the numbers Acuna is this year. The Braves were once extremely close to landing Bonds, maybe they can now have a similar version of him.
The last player comparison is going to be the best player in the game today. It was only 6 years ago when Trout played his first full professional season. He was 20 just like Acuna. Trout put up out of this world numbers even in that first year, hitting .326 with 30 Home runs and 83 RBI’s. He also chipped in with 49 stolen bags and a OPS of .963. To be fair, hardly anyone can match those numbers at 20. We all know how special Trout is, and if Acuna is in the same range, I will take it and smile all day long.
So with all this being said, let’s sit back and watch Acuna have more fun with Albies, and do his thing on the field. Just don’t take this for granted. We as Atlanta Braves fans have a truly special player and hopefully real soon, he along with Freddie and the boys, can hold up a World Series trophy.