A LOOK AT HISTORY, THE BRAVES, AND MLB THIS SEASON
Ronald Acuña Jr. Became The First Player in MLB History to Have a 30 HR/60 Steal Season
His excellence has been a marvel to watch and his Atlanta Braves have been in first place this season
I’m not a fan of the Atlanta Braves by any stretch of the imagination. My team plays north of the border in the only non-American market in the Major Leagues. They have obviously been underperforming but there’s one team that has not been. That’s the Atlanta Braves. As of this writing, the Atlanta Braves are 89–45 and have the largest division lead of any team at 15 games over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies.
A huge reason for their success has been their offense this season. They lead the majors with 5.85 runs per game and have a run differential currently of 235 runs. Even though the numbers for both aren’t historic, they’re definitely above and beyond any team in the majors this season.
The contributing factor to this success is their star Venezuelan outfielder, Ronald Acuña Jr. Throughout the season, he’s displayed his power and speed. He’s always been known for being a power hitter who can run. Aided by the changes to the MLB’s rules this season, more specifically the bigger bases, his speed has become even more of a threat on the base paths.
He currently has 62 stolen bases. When you think back to the era of speedsters such as Kenny Lofton or Rickey Henderson, this number pales in comparison. The difference with this number this year is that Acuña Jr. has done it with power too.
He just hit his 30th home run of the season on August 31st (he has since hit his 31st home run). In a game against the Dodgers, he hit a grand-slam home run in the second inning off of starter Lance Lynn. It was also his 150th home run of his career (he now has 151 home runs). He has achieved this in 134 games this season.
A story I read earlier in the day on the day of his milestone home run is that he just married his girlfriend and the mother of his children so she didn’t have to go back to Venezuela for three months during a crucial part of his season. I’m sure he was motivated to make history on the same day as such another great milestone in his personal life. I’m sure that getting married on a day when he would become the first player to ever do something was extra motivation later in the day for him to actually do it.
I have always been a fan of him as a player since he entered the league six seasons ago at the age of 20. He’s been an exciting player throughout his career and has brought excitement to the game leading a new generation of younger talent in the model of power and speed. Do I think someone else will eventually match his 30–60 season, especially in the new age of baseball? It’s likely.
In fact, this season, there’s a player in Arizona that’s being overlooked in the midst of Acuña Jr.’s record season. Corbin Carroll has been playing well for an improved Arizona Diamondbacks team and he has 23 home runs and 41 stolen bases at the age of 23. There’s also Bobby Witt Jr. who also has a power-speed combo that has the potential of having one of these seasons in the future as well. He’s also 23 and has 28 home runs and 38 stolen bases playing for the Kansas City Royals.
I’m not trying to downplay what Acuña Jr. has done here but the league is getting faster and certainly combining that with a good amount of power. Ultimately, I think that we’ll see more power-speed players come up through the ranks and make baseball more exciting to watch. Acuña Jr. certainly feels like a pioneer in this game and his accomplishment certainly shouldn’t be understated but this definitely does feel like the beginning of an era with new, young, exciting players. This is a great time to be a baseball fan.
