Braves: Ronald Acuna Jr. Comes out on Fire in Spring Training

Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. got his first action of Spring Training on Monday and gave us a taste of what we can expect in 2021. 

You could see this coming from a mile away if you’ve been paying attention all offseason. I’ve been trying to warn the rest of the league, but Ronald Acuna Jr. is about to go off for the Atlanta Braves.

And this isn’t an overreaction to one Spring Training game where he went 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored. This is something he’s been building towards all offseason.

If you follow Acuna Jr. on Instagram (I created an account just to do so), then you’ve seen the workout videos and how motivated he’s remained.

He sees the Fernando Tatis Jr. contract and everyone saying that Tatis and Juan Soto are the best young superstars in the game. And while it’s certainly not a competition in the clubhouse, but he watched his teammate Freddie Freeman win the NL MVP last year and knows it’s his turn.

Ronnie wants to be the best, you can see that fire in him, and now he knows what it takes to be the best.

And I’m not just talking about the best young player in the sport, but the best player in all of baseball — that’s what Ronnie is shooting for in 2021.

Again, we’re not overthinking one game, but he showed that fire on Monday.

In Ronnie’s first at-bat he laced a ball off the wall in the left. A ball hit so hard that he was almost thrown out at second — and probably should have been with a good throw and tag.

And then Ron Washington gave him the windmill coming around third to score on a close play at the plate. The left fielder — J.D. Martinez, who doesn’t have the best arm — had the ball before Acuna was even to third base.

The play at the plate still wasn’t all that close.

You could just see the aggressiveness that Acuna wants to play with and how hungry he is to succeed — and help his team succeed.

In his next at-bat, he was on every pitch and just kept fouling them off before finally grounding out to third, and the throw only got him by a step as he hustled down the line.

I know, it’s one Spring Training game, but I really love what I saw from Ronnie and hope more than anything that we get that from him over 162 games this season.

If we do, the Braves will have another NL MVP winner.

Other Notes from the Braves Second Spring Training Game:

– Cristian Pache had one of the more impressive swings of the game, squaring up a baseball to the right-center gap. The right-fielder robbed him of a home run over the short wall out there, but it was a really pretty swing.

– Huascar Ynoa and Touki Toussaint were about the same as they’ve always been for me. Great stuff, but can they control it consistently. They combined for 8 strikeouts — most coming on breaking balls, which hitters aren’t ready for this time of year — but they both also walked two batters each. I need to see more improvement from them if they want to be starters.

– Just going off of looks, Jake Lamb looks like a dude. He had a solid hit his first time up, and being a lefty, I’m starting to really like his chances to make the Opening Day roster. He’ll be a solid lefty off the bench and could even work his way into a platoon role with Austin Riley (if Riley struggles).

– I really love what I saw from William Contreras at the plate. He’s the best choice for the back-up job, but they may choose to send him to Triple-A so that he gets everyday at-bats. One thing that kept bothering me though is balls kept popping out of his mitt — very reminiscent of Tyler Flowers. Not sure if that happens with him a lot or if he’s breaking in a new glove, but hopefully that doesn’t become a thing.

The Atlanta Braves will be back in action on Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins with Ian Anderson making his Spring debut. It was announced that Drew Smyly will pitch on Wednesday and Bryse Wilson on Thursday. Freddie Freeman will also make his debut on Friday.