MLB’s first 40/60 player? Inside Ronald Acuna Jr.’s return to MVP form

MARIETTA, Ga. — The lounge of Ronald Acuña Jr.’s two-story, craftsman-style residence seems extra like a sports activities memorabilia retailer, replete with mementos from a profession that blossomed sooner than most. All-MLB plaques and commemorative baseballs dot two units of bookcases on all sides of a white fire. A signed lineup card from final 12 months’s All-Star Recreation in Los Angeles sits on one, a Group Venezuela batting helmet from this 12 months’s World Baseball Basic rests on the opposite. Within the center, an outsized image of a smiling, 20-year-old, tuxedoed Acuña posing with the 2018 Nationwide League Rookie of the 12 months Award overlooks all of it.

Acuña, now 25, takes no credit score for the association.

“That was my mother,” he says in Spanish. “She’s the one who decorates.”

It is an overcast, muggy afternoon on Might 18, a Thursday off-day that does not fairly really feel like one as a result of Acuña and his Atlanta Braves teammates did not contact down from Texas till 3 a.m. The previous 4 video games of that street journey noticed Acuña unleash 4 residence runs that averaged 440 ft. Slightly greater than 1 / 4 of the season has transpired at this level, and Acuña stands on tempo to surpass 40 residence runs, 60 stolen bases, 100 RBIs and 150 runs, a mix of numbers which have by no means been reached.

Acuña, sporting tight-fitting black pants with blue-and-white bands that resemble streaks of lightning and high-top sneakers that had been clearly designed to match, smiles on the considered what 2023 is changing into.

Acuña seems like probably the most exhilarating, dynamic baseball participant on the planet once more, a sentiment that extends past his numbers (a .332/.419/.577 slash line, 11 homers, 22 steals and a pair of.6 FanGraphs wins above substitute, tops amongst place gamers). He is wreaking havoc on the basepaths, crushing prodigious residence runs with regularity and making highlight-reel defensive performs appear routine.

All of it feels, nicely, regular, as if that is the way it all the time goes. As if it hadn’t been three years — 4 in the event you rely the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season — since this model of Acuña offered itself with regularity.

To Acuña, although, none of this seems like a given, not when these three years featured a devastating knee harm and a subpar return from it. By all of it, one of the vital outwardly assured athletes of our time questioned if he’d ever be good once more.

IT WAS JULY 2021, and Acuña could not cease crying. A clumsy touchdown on a leaping try in Miami had brought on a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his proper knee, an harm that sometimes comes with an eight- to 12-month restoration and leaves an unsure future past it. Acuña, then solely 23, had already secured a $100 million extension and was three days shy of his second All-Star Recreation begin, in the course of his greatest 12 months but. Now he needed to surprise if he would ever be the identical.

“He cried daily,” Acuña’s mom, Leonelis Blanco, mentioned in Spanish. “It wasn’t simply daily — it was the entire day. He was distraught, crying, crying, questioning about his leg.”

Acuña — with a father, Ronald Sr., who spent six years within the New York Mets‘ minor league system, and 4 cousins, most notably Kelvim and Alcides Escobar, who reached the majors — lived and breathed baseball since beginning, Leonelis mentioned. When he was 9, he was appreciably higher than the opposite kids his age in La Guaira, a port metropolis in northern Venezuela. At 11, it was clear he would make a profession out of the game.

Leonelis had solely recognized Acuña to be wonderful and assertive. However within the two weeks that spanned his ACL tear and subsequent surgical procedure, he was exceedingly weak, refusing to observe baseball video games and pondering the opportunity of by no means taking part in once more. Most of his days had been spent mendacity in mattress. Leonelis by no means left his facet. She performed music, cooked his favourite meals, introduced up different subjects of dialog and did her greatest to venture positivity. When the topic of baseball inevitably returned, she clung to a few phrases.

Paciencia, hijo. (Endurance, son.)

Confía en ti. (Consider in your self.)

Libera tu mente. (Free your thoughts.)

“Horrible,” Leonelis mentioned of these conversations, each one in all which she remembers. “It was actually, actually exhausting.”

As his knee improved, so too did Acuña’s frame of mind. Merely ditching the wheelchair to stroll on crutches noticeably lifted his spirits. Later that season, whereas the Braves excelled with a makeshift outfield constructed earlier than the tip of July, he discovered pleasure by way of his teammates’ success. When the World Collection got here, he requested to be cleared for journey. It allowed him to be in Houston on Nov. 2, when the Braves turned one of the vital unbelievable champions in current reminiscence. That evening, Acuña’s physique froze. He then felt a chill run by way of each of his arms. The tears flowed shortly thereafter.

“I cried out of pleasure,” Acuña mentioned, “but in addition I cried as a result of I could not be there with my teammates. I could not be there each day; I could not be there with them.”

These emotions immediately impacted the next season.

“He missed it a lot in ’21, once we gained a championship, that he was positively going to be a part of the staff in ’22,” Braves first-base coach Eric Younger mentioned. “It did not matter. If he was nicely sufficient to go, he was going out [even if not fully healthy]. That was his mentality. And I do not fault him for that.”

ACUÑA RETURNED TO the Braves on April 28, 2022, and performed in 119 of the staff’s remaining 143 regular-season video games, plus 4 extra within the playoffs — however he was by no means actually himself.

Younger, Acuña’s coach by way of his whole main league profession, seen it in how slowly he reduce off base hits within the hole. Austin Riley, Acuña’s teammate relationship to rookie ball, seen it within the batting cage, the place the ball did not fairly soar off his bat prefer it used to. Braves third-base coach Ron Washington, happening his sixth decade within the main leagues, seen it in how occasionally his typical burst would arrive on the bases. Brian Snitker, his supervisor, seen it within the deluge of stories from the coaching workers that detailed Acuña’s fixed want for remedy.

Acuña felt it in every single place — when he did not rotate his hips shortly sufficient to succeed in fastballs, when he did not explode nicely sufficient to trace down distant fly balls, when he did not come out of his stride quick sufficient to steal bases.

“I put a number of stress on myself, like, ‘I’ve to get again to being who I used to be earlier than,’ and I believe that influenced quite a bit,” Acuña mentioned. “Issues did not end up the best way I needed them to. The knee — there have been days when it would not damage, I would exit and play one hundred percent and I would inform myself, ‘I am again,’ however then the following day the ache would return. It simply stored going like that.”

Acuña was chosen by followers because the beginning proper fielder within the All-Star Recreation, however he completed with a .764 OPS that fell 161 factors beneath his profession mark heading into 2022. He stole 29 bases however was thrown out an NL-leading 11 instances. Defensively, he was credited with negative-seven outs above common, putting him among the many worst at his place.

On the surface, Acuña continued to flaunt jewellery and smear eye black and have fun boisterously.

Inside, doubt consumed him.

“I might inform my mother, ‘Mother, I do not know if I will ever run the identical once more.’ Or my dad, ‘You assume I will return to taking part in the identical?'” Acuña mentioned. “The ache was not straightforward. The operation additionally was not straightforward. So I doubted many instances. I might inform my associates, ‘I do not know if I will be capable to play that manner once more.’ Each time I might go play, I doubted.”

IN 2018, Younger’s first season teaching Braves outfielders coincided with Acuña’s rookie 12 months. The 2 have been inseparable since. If anyone can attain Acuña, it is Younger. And when the 2022 season ended, Younger felt the necessity.

Every week after the 101-win Braves had been eradicated by the resurgent Philadelphia Phillies in mid-October, Younger referred to as Acuña to speak. He needed to assist set the tone for what would turn into a very powerful offseason of Acuña’s profession.

“You discuss the very best gamers within the recreation — Ronald Acuña’s title’s bought to be talked about,” Younger recalled saying. “And I informed him, ‘It is not going to be talked about since you’ve bought these expertise and also you’re proficient. It’s important to do it in between the strains every single day to realize respect out of your friends. Your friends are those telling you who’s the very best participant within the recreation. In the event you go on the market and also you do the issues that you simply’re able to, there is no different individual on the market that may do it such as you.'”

Younger’s phrases helped to reaffirm a mindset Acuña was already carrying with him. He waited one other week or so for his knee to turn into absolutely wholesome — it lastly did at first of November, handy but merciless timing — then got down to take a look at it like by no means earlier than.

“I informed myself, ‘I’ve to work and I’ve to get again to being 100%,'” Acuña mentioned. “‘It is both going to be 100% the great manner or 100% the dangerous manner.'”

Acuña needed to play as a lot baseball as doable as shortly as doable. He deliberate to participate within the Venezuelan Winter League in December, then characterize his nation within the 2023 World Baseball Basic. Earlier than that, although, he would take a detour to the Dominican Republic to hit with Fernando Tatis Sr., the previous main league third baseman and father of one in all his closest associates.

Acuña and Fernando Tatis Jr., the San Diego Padres’ celebrity shortstop-turned-outfielder, met close to the tip of April 2019, when Tatis paid his first go to to Atlanta early in his rookie season.

“You are feeling the chemistry from the second you say good day,” Acuña mentioned. “You say, ‘That is going to be my brother.’ It is only a good vibe. Since then, we have been brothers.”

Three and a half years later, from Nov. 10 till round Thanksgiving, Acuña and Tatis met on a subject in Tatis’ hometown of San Pedro de Marcoris and tried to rediscover their respective selves. Tatis, on the heels of a season misplaced each to a bike accident and a steroid suspension, wore a solid on a surgically repaired left wrist that restricted him to conditioning work. Acuña, in the meantime, hit virtually each day below the watchful eye of a person well-known for as soon as belting two grand slams in a single inning.

Early on, Tatis Sr. prompt a minor tweak that became a serious adjustment. He requested Acuña to decrease his palms ever so barely throughout his setup, down close to the underside a part of his chest, making his bat parallel to his higher physique to be able to get its barrel by way of the strike zone extra shortly.

“I used to be open to all the things,” Acuña mentioned. “It is why I went down there.”

Acuña struggled mightily to hit fastballs final season, slugging solely .416 in opposition to four-seamers, 56 factors beneath the foremost league common. This 12 months, it is as much as .773. His strikeout price has been reduce practically in half, all the way down to 14.1%. He’s a greater, extra full hitter than he ever has been, a product, he believes, of the adjustments he made within the D.R.

Acuña, a deep admirer of legendary countryman Miguel Cabrera, hopes to sometime win a batting title. At this price, not less than, he’ll safe his third Silver Slugger Award in 5 months.

“If I do,” Acuña mentioned, “I will give it to Fernando.”

YOUNG HAD BEEN maintaining shut tabs on Acuña’s offseason work, and by the onset of spring coaching, he noticed a brand new, extra mature model up shut. Acuña used to lag by way of the assorted stations of exercises, however abruptly he was displaying what Younger described as “extra focus, extra intent” throughout outfield drills that always appeared to bore him.

The eye to element, Braves coaches mentioned, has spilled into the common season, the place Younger mentioned he’s “not working away from any kind of problem in getting ready for the sport.”

Acuña believes being a father — he has two boys, a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old — has introduced a brand new stage of maturity. Struggling the ACL tear in 2021, Younger says, humbled him like by no means earlier than. However merely being abnormal for maybe the primary time in his life may need performed simply as large a job in his transformation.

“I believe he discovered what he’s, what he seems like, when he is not wholesome,” Washington mentioned, “and that is the participant he would not need to be.”

Acuña, Washington added, is not solely counting on his eye-popping bodily expertise. He works diligently on his baserunning approach and research pitcher tendencies for the primary time, a spotlight that, when mixed with new guidelines which have created a extra favorable stolen-base surroundings, have led to a 91.7% success price. He is studying balls off the bat throughout pregame batting apply on a near-daily foundation, versus as soon as every week. He is extra diligent together with his bodily remedy and plyometric workouts. Lapses nonetheless happen, however they’re way more rare.

“He used to hit floor balls, and if it wasn’t a base hit he did not run ’em out,” Washington mentioned. “Now, he is making these son of a b—-es make performs on the market. He is working all the things out.”

Final 12 months, Braves trainers talked to NFL trainers to select their brains about how working backs recovered from ACL tears like Acuña’s. They had been informed that almost all gamers wanted a full season and offseason to get again to their earlier requirements. It is a message the staff continued to impart on Acuña, however one he did not absolutely imagine till experiencing it first hand.

And by the point he felt utterly wholesome, that doubt had turn into gas.

“I might hear folks saying, ‘He is not going to run the identical anymore, he is not going to be the identical baseball participant as a result of folks do not come again nicely from this surgical procedure,'” Acuña mentioned. “It was irritating to listen to folks discuss like that. But in addition, it motivated me. I practiced, I skilled exhausting, I fought and now they’re mistaken.”

RILEY HAS FOUND himself on a dugout’s high step for each one in all Acuña’s plate appearances this season.

“Simply ready for one thing to occur,” Riley mentioned. “It is fairly particular.”

Acuña hasn’t dissatisfied. By the season’s first eight weeks, he ranks throughout the high 3% in exit velocity and hard-hit price, throughout the high 17% in dash pace and throughout the high 1% — higher but, second amongst 187 certified gamers — in arm energy. Defensive metrics, vulnerable to faultiness in small samples, nonetheless grade him as a below-average proper fielder. However Acuña has already gathered six outfield assists and turned in a handful of sensational performs, together with two leaping catches in opposition to the outfield fence of his residence ballpark.

In the meantime, his already prodigious residence runs have been legendary.

“It seems easy,” Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies mentioned. “He simply hits the ball and the ball retains going.”

Acuña unleashed a 461-foot residence run to straightaway middle subject Might 3 and adopted with a 470-foot moonshot to left Might 10. 5 days later, he swung at a curveball just one.3 ft off the bottom and lined it 454 ft to left-center. Acuña has already totaled a serious league-leading 9 residence runs which have traveled not less than 420 ft, three greater than the second-place Aaron Choose, who outweighs him by 80 kilos. In Might alone, he has hit 4 residence runs not less than 450 ft. Each different participant within the sport has mixed for 18 of these this month.

“He is on his legs now, and also you’re seeing what he can do,” Snitker mentioned. “And he is maturing. He is rising up — bodily, mentally, the entire thing. The child’s beginning to come into his personal. It is kinda scary what he is able to, actually.”

Acuña has acted as an important tone-setter for a Braves staff that’s already 12 video games above .500 and 5½ video games up in first place, slashing .500/.540/.804 when main off the primary inning. He is solely three factors shy of a 1.000 OPS, a mark reached by solely six leadoff hitters since 1900, and is on tempo to complete because the third participant in main league historical past to mix 30-plus residence runs with 50-plus stolen bases, to not point out the primary to 30 and 60.

He is all the best way again, however he is additionally higher than ever.

Those that know him nicely are bullish.

“Acuña needs to be the very best,” Younger mentioned. “And if Acuña needs to be the very best, his greatest is the MVP, in my thoughts. He will be the MVP this 12 months. It is a prediction. I am assured in that prediction.”