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WASHINGTON — Bat met ball in the top of the seventh inning, the latter flying out of the ballpark at 104 mph and soon, Ronald Acuña Jr. was flapping his arms and getting saluted in return by Atlanta Braves coaches and teammates, having witnessed another superlative from their now 28-year-old superstar.
“It’s freakish talent,” says Braves manager Walt Weiss. “And so he’s capable of doing unbelievable things.”
In this case, on a rainy Wednesday, Sept 2 at Nationals Park, Acuña became the quickest player to reach 200 stolen bases and 200 homers, hitting the mark in just 904 career games, 25 sooner than Alfonso Soriano.
For a guy who debuted at 20 to reach a “fastest to” plateau at 28 seems momentarily incongruous. Yet that simply speaks to the adversity Acuña has faced after the sheen of his instant stardom wore off.
A pair of torn ACLs, one on each leg, essentially robbed him of two seasons, including the Braves’ run to the 2021 World Series championship. This season, a hamstring strain sent him twice to the injured list, and Weiss saw fit to bench him to “slow the game down” when he struggled returning from his second IL stint.
Those struggles seemed far away Wednesday.
Acuña singled, swiped second – his 20th steal in 29 tries this year – and scored in the sixth inning. An inning later, he clobbered a first-pitch 95 mph sinker up in the zone from Nationals reliever Max Kranick 379 feet into the Nationals bullpen for a 6-0 lead.
Two hundred to pair with his 225 steals.
In this era of liberal stolen-base rules, Acuña tops several superlative lists. But this one might be most significant – it implies longevity while also speaking to his precocious talent.
“I know how much I worked to be here, with my teammates, and I also, for me, wanted to be in that list with Alfonso Soriano and the superstars,” Acuña said after the Braves completed the rain-delayed 9-0 victory, increasing their NL East lead to four games over the Phillies ahead of their four-game weekend series in Philadelphia.
“Injuries are part of the game, though. So I need to keep continuing working hard, play hard, no matter what happened, help my team win a lot of games, so (we) make the playoffs this year.”
Acuña won’t be in the hunt for his second NL MVP award this season. Limited to 86 games, he’s posted a .243 average and .761 OPS, with 14 homers.
That’s OK. The Braves have taken control of the NL East without his very best. Now, they can really use his game-breaking ability as the stakes get higher.
“I love, I love, playing against Philly,“ says Acuña. “This weekend, it’s like a playoff game, so let’s see what happens in Philadelphia.”
Perhaps something spectacular, once again, from the Braves’ superstar whose career is gaining ever-richer context.
“Yeah, anytime you’re first, or even top 50 on any list in this game, it’s amazing,” says Weiss. “You think about the history of this game, and the people who played it, but, yeah, we know Ronald’s talent, man.“