Ronald Acuña Jr. Joins Elite Club With Historic 40th Homer in DC

Ronald Acuña Jr. has DONE IT, folks! He has hit his 40th home run of the season to achieve his first 40-40 season of his career. This milestone also made Ronald just the fifth player in MLB history to achieve this feat.

His historic home run came against Patrick Corbin on a 3-2 pitch at Nationals Park in DC. It was a line drive home run that got out in a hurry. Acuña Jr. celebrated all the way around the bases as he understood the gravity of what just happened.

He joins the ranks of Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and Jose Canseco. The difference maker between those players and Acuña? He's the only one on the list that is 2 stolen bases away from 70 on the season. Ronald has set history of his own now with 40 homers and 60 RBI. He's the only player to achieve that and he's about to extend that to 40/70.

It has been an unprecedented season for the Atlanta Braves in general as they are breaking records left and right this season. There has been debate over the last couple of months if Ronald is the favorite for NL MVP or if Dodger's star Mookie Betts is.

Betts had a ridiculous month of August but Ronald has kept pace with him every step of the way and the month of September has pushed Ronald ahead of Betts. Reaching this milestone just further solidifies Ronald as the frontrunner for MVP.

Acuña leads Major League Baseball in runs scored (141), hits (209), and stolen bases (68). He leads the National League in OBP (.416) and OPS (1.015). He is second in batting average (.338) and slugging (.607). The Braves superstar is slashing .338/.416/.599 on the season and doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

His 141 runs scored broke the franchise record of 131 set by Dale Murphy. He's shattered the record for total bases in a single season as well. He's only 5 stolen bases from breaking the record set by Otis Nixon in 1991 and just 11 hits from breaking the single-season record for hits set by Ralph Garr in 1971.

Braves fans are witnessing history all around them in 2023 and hopefully it all ends with a World Series title. However, no matter what happens, they will always be able to remember the historic season that was 2023 for Acuña Jr.

Congratulations Ronald!