House That Hank Built
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3 Takeaways from an historic and important Atlanta Braves win

By Alan Carpenter

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 23: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves runs out his thirteenth inning infield single against the New York Mets at Citi Field on August 23, 2019 in New York City. Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players Weekend. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 23: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves runs out his thirteenth inning infield single against the New York Mets at Citi Field on August 23, 2019 in New York City. Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players Weekend. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 23: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves admires his custom cleats during the MLB Players Weekend at Citi Field on August 23, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players’ Weekend. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 23: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves admires his custom cleats during the MLB Players Weekend at Citi Field on August 23, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players’ Weekend. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

#3. Acuna History, Too

If you watched the game last night, Ronald Acuna Jr. joined baseball’s 30-30 club:  30+ homers and 30+ steals in a single season with a swipe of second base in the 8th inning.

His is now the 55th season in which this feat has been accomplished and he’s only the second player under the age of 22 (Mike Trout at age 20) to get to this mark.

Trout himself almost didn’t get there.  While he stole 49 bases in 2012, his 30th (and final) homer that year came on September 30th… 4 games before the end of the season.  His 29th homer came the day before that.

Turns out only 1 other player has done this under age 23 (Alex Rodriguez while in his age 22 season) and just 4 others under age 25 (Jose Canseco, David Wright, Hanley Ramirez, and Sammy Sosa – all during their age 23 or 24 seasons).

Nobody has ever done this twice before age 25 (Ron Gant went back-to-back in his age 25 and 26 seasons), so Acuna will now have 4 chances (2020-2023) to repeat.

This is a big deal.

The Next Step?

We recently went through the rarity of the 40/40 club – which Acuna can still achieve here in 2019 given that he’s hit 30/30 on August 23rd.  It’s a mark of excellence that essentially defines the multi-tool player.

Speed and power is a rare combination, but you’ve also got to be able to hit consistently to get on base enough to use those legs – just ask Billy Hamilton about how the fastest man in baseball has been dropped from 2 different teams… it’s because his career peak OBP is a scant .321.

Personally, my only concern with Acuna’s pursuit of 40/40 is that he might take some unnecessary risks.

That may have been the case when he was caught stealing twice in games within the past week against the Dodgers and Marlins.  He can certainly get to 40 over the natural course of events without having to press the issue, but discipline has to be a part of the equation.

Nonetheless… 30/30 is a heck of an achievement and it should be celebrated:  congratulations to Ronald for that milestone.

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