Braves: Poll Ranks Ronald Acuna Jr. 3rd Among Young Superstars

For whatever reason, the Atlanta Braves Ronald Acuna Jr. has slipped in the eyes of the public over the last year or so — that’s a mistake. 

Let’s be real, when Ronald Acuna Jr. broke onto the scene with the Atlanta Braves in 2018 it took the team to a different level that has led to three straight division titles and a trip to the NLCS in 2020.

For a while there, many people considered him not just to be the best young superstar in all of baseball, but someone who could take the place of Mike Trout as the best player in the sport.

However, for whatever reason, Acuna has faded a little bit over the past year.

It’s like people forgot this man was on the verge of a 40-40 season in 2019 had he not gotten injured to end the year.

Sure, he didn’t have the best season in 2020 — also mainly because of injury — but as I keep saying, you can’t put a ton of stock in 2020 numbers — good or bad.

And still, Acuna slashed .250/.406/.581 with 14 home runs, a wRC+ of 159, and 2.4 WAR.

But in a recent poll by MLB.com of 20 club executives, they voted Ferando Tatis Jr. as the young superstar they would pick to start their franchise. The poll only included Tatis, Juan Soto, and Acuna.

Tatis received 11 votes, Soto five, and Acuna four.

I get that Soto is probably already the best hitter in the league and that’s hard to pass up, but he’s really below-average in every other aspect of his game. He’s not a great defensive player and doesn’t give you a ton of speed.

To me, that eliminates him from this discussion.

Tatis and Acuna are much better all-around players and both play a primary position in the field.

Acuna will likely settle in right field, but I think that will only increase his value as I predict he’ll win several Gold Glove awards in right.

Tatis is a solid defensive player at short and is able to cover a lot of ground with his 6-foot-three frame.

He’s also taken the mantle as the flashiest player in the sport and is in all the TV ads right now, so I’m sure that’s playing into the hearts of a lot of these voters.

I’m certainly not trying to slight Tatis (or Soto, for that matter), but he hasn’t even played more than 150 games in his big league careeer. Plus, while he was outstanding to start 2020, he really faded in September, so you wonder if the league is starting to catch up to him.

We’re obvioulsy bias here, but Acuna still seems like the right answer to the question “what young superstar would you take to start a franchise?”

And with the workout videos he’s posting on Instagram this offseason, he’s certainly training like someone who wants to regain that title and possibly keep the MVP trophy with the Atlanta Braves in 2021.