Atlanta Braves Ronald Acuña Jr. completes one-half of 40-40 with majestic home run

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. reached the 40 home run mark in dramatic fashion with a majestic shot off Aaron Nola.

We all know the Atlanta Braves are on the verge of clinching back-to-back NL East tiles, but the real drama down the stretch is Ronald Acuña Jr.’s pursuit of 40-40.

He reached the first half of that on Thursday afternoon with a laser home run to left field off Aaron Nola.

With that home run, Acuña became the third person in the history of baseball to hit 40 home runs in a season before their 22nd birthday.

And again, it wasn’t a cheapie.

Now that he’s gotten that 40th home run, he can start to focus on the second half of the equation as he needs just three stolen bases to become only the fifth player in baseball to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season.

I’ve let my thoughts be known on the matter, I think this is something that ESPN and MLB Network should be talking about all day.

This is something we’ve only seen happen four times throughout the history of baseball, the last time coming in 2006, and it would be the first time a player who wasn’t tied to steroids accomplished this feat.

But, there is still some work to be done and there aren’t a lot of games left.

The Atlanta Braves have eight regular season games left, and I can almost guarantee you that Acuña will sit out of one of those games — most likely the day after they clinch.

But I also think Brian Snitker is going to give him every opportunity to reach this huge milestone.

He’s stolen six bases this month in 16 games, now he’ll need to get three in eight games when everyone in the stadium knows he’ll be running when he gets on base.

And while I’m very excited about this possible accomplishment, more than anything I hope getting that 40th home run on Thursday will settle him down because he has really struggled at the plate lately.

I’d love to see Acuña be more patient at the plate and take his walks. It seems like he’s been pressing to try and hit that 40th home run.

But now that he has that home run out of the way, I look for him to have much better at-bats as he goes back to just trying to get on base where he can pick up some steals.

Even if the national media doesn’t cover it, you can bet we’ll continue to talk about this 40-40 pursuit until hopefully he gets it done.