The Atlanta Braves finished the 2023 regular season with an MLB-best record of 104-58. Ronald Acuna. Jr. was the spark plug for this historic offense and is now being recognized for his incredible performance.
2023 Sporting News MLB awards: Historic season earns Ronald Acuña Jr. Player of the Year honor https://t.co/qsgUSCnuD7 pic.twitter.com/pE4ICEPXu5
— Ron Bohning (@RonBohning) October 26, 2023
Many anticipate Ronald Acuna Jr. to take home the National League Most Valuable Player award but we will have to wait a little longer for that to be official. For the time being, we can recognize and celebrate the fact that players from around the league saw Acuna as the best in the game in 2023.
The Sporting News MLB Awards are voted on by MLB players, those who are around the game every day. This season, there were a total of 376 votes from players. 242 of those votes went to Ronald Acuna and rightfully so.
Acuna did something that no one in the history of Major League Baseball has ever done with 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases in a season. There are a lot of people who try to attribute Acuna's staggering number of stolen bases to rule changes such as bigger bases. No matter how you frame it, 2023 for Acuna was like no other season ever.
Ronald Acuna finished the season with a .337 batting average, .416 on-base percentage (highest in MLB), 41 home runs, 106 runs batted in, 73 stolen bases (most in MLB), 217 hits (most in MLB), 149 runs scored (most in MLB) and 383 total bases (most in MLB).
These are video game numbers that even then can be hard to comprehend. It is even more impressive that Acuna was able to accomplish this type of season after battling back from a severe injury a couple of seasons ago.
Atlanta may not have had the ending to their season they would have liked but accomplishments such as this one should still be celebrated as it was well deserved. Congratulations, Ronald! Now, we are waiting for the MVP trophy.