Ronald Acuna joked about his health by pulling a Willy Wonka.
Hey, remember that scene in the original 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in which Gene Wilder as Wonka comes out of his factory, limping and leaning heavily on his cane?
Sure you do. If you don’t, I posted it below. But here’s what happens next: suddenly he does a somersault and comes up walking just fine. Everyone has a laugh.
Well, it sounds like Ronald Acuña did something similar on Tuesday at Atlanta Braves spring training, per reporters: he used a bat like a cane at first, then was talking totally fine. That came after the Braves announced he’d be ready for Opening Day:
Ronald Acuña Jr. approached us today leaning on his bat as if it were a cane and then cracked a big smile and started walking normally. He feels fine and wishes he could play today. pic.twitter.com/e5H3vs9S8V
Kenny Acuña, the 12-year-old brother of MLB star Ronald Acuña, has verbally agreed to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies once eligible.
The Philadelphia Phillies are betting that reigning MVP Ronald Acuña’s talent transcends to his younger siblings.
The Phillies verbally agreed to a deal with the star outfielder’s 12-year-old brother Kenny Acuña, according to Héctor Gómez. The deal would become official when the preteen is eligible to sign in the international free agent class in January 2028.
Philadelphia has reason to be optimistic about the potential of this young player. Ronald has been a star since his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2018, which he followed with a 41 home runs/37 steals second season. That set the stage for 2023, where, after a trio of seasons shortened due to injury and COVID restrictions, he posted a historic season of 41 home runs and 73 stolen bases.
In the minor leagues sits 21-year-old Luisangel Acuña, ranked a top-100 prospect by multiple outlets, including MLB Pipeline (66), Keith Law (45), and MLB Prospectus (76). In double-A last year, he hit .294 with nine home runs and 57 stolen bases in 121 games.
Next up is Kenny, who is shown swinging the bat in this Instagram video posted by Guillermo Arcay and shared to social media platform X by Gómez:
The Alex Salazar Academy in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, where Ronald has also trained, posted a video of the 12-year-old infielder hitting a home run in batting practice:
A really cool thing happened on Wednesday night: Ronald Acuna Jr. stole his 70th base, making him the first MLB player ever with 40-plus home runs and 70 steals in a season. An NL MVP might be in his future.
The steal came in the 10th inning with the Atlanta Braves playing the Chicago Cubs, who are in the middle of trying to contend for a Wild Card spot.
Why I’m mentioning that: When Acuna stole the base, he picked it up in celebration and the game stopped in the middle of the inning for the Braves to show a montage. And the Cubs’ broadcast was NOT happy.
“Are we really stopping the game to do a highlight montage?” asked Boog Sciambi?
“Can we get the base after the game?” replied Jim Deshaies. “This is pretty absurd.”
The Cubs broadcast wasn’t happy about the game being paused after Acuña’s 70th steal pic.twitter.com/8fqpJLCFax
Knocking 40 home runs while stealing 40 bases is one of baseball’s most elusive milestones.
It’s fairly common for a Major League Baseball player to excel in either power or speed, but very few players are masters of both crafts.
One of baseball’s most elusive milestones is the so-called “40-40 club,” which is reserved for players who hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season. It’s such a rare feat that, in the nearly 150 years of organized MLB league play, only four players in history had accomplished it prior to 2023.
That changed on Friday, though, as Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. knocked his 40th home run of the season, becoming the fifth player to join the exclusive club. He’s also the first player to do so since Alfonso Soriano in 2006 with the Washington Nationals.
Here’s a look at the complete current list of players that comprise MLB’s 40-40 club.
Are the Cardinals tanking or not? Plus, a word on Jim Harbaugh.
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Honestly, it’s hard to blame them when you look at the situation. It is truly one that is ripe for tanking. All you have to do is look at their last few roster moves and you can definitely catch the vibe.
On Monday, the team released Colt McCoy. The QB had been penciled in as their starting quarterback throughout training camp and the preseason. For him to be outright released just a few days before teams make final cuts was just shocking.
And now the Cardinals have released veteran QB Colt McCoy, per league sources.
Either veteran Josh Dobbs, whom Arizona acquired last week, or rookie fifth-round pick QB Clayton Tune will start opening day at Washington.
When you put that move in context with the others Arizona has made, the tank radar definitely goes off.
Arizona put Kyler Murray on its physically unable to perform list as he continues to recover from a torn ACL. He’ll be out for at least four weeks, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. On top of that, the team traded for Joshua Dobbs, who is a career backup. He’ll probably start games for Arizona this season — at least until Murray is back. And who knows when that’ll be.
On top of that, the team traded Isaiah Simmons to the Giants last week after drafting him just three years ago. He’s a former top-10 pick. NFL teams are stubborn. Giving up this easily on a player isn’t normal.
Considering all that, it’s easy to see this as a 100 percent Grade A “Go Winless for Williams” tank operation. Caleb Williams is nice, man. Even his fumbles are golden.
But look, y’all. Let’s be real. The only way tanking actually makes sense here is if you don’t think about it too hard.
So let’s really think on it starting with Colt McCoy. We are talking about Colt McCoy here, right? This isn’t Drew Brees, folks. There’s simply not a world of difference between Dobbs and McCoy here.
Some have also suspected that Murray is on the PUP list because the team is trying to lose. But does that really make sense for any party involved here?
Kyler Murray is absolutely on the clock for the Cardinals. If the Cardinals trade him in 2024 they’ll save about $39 million in cap space and would only incur a $13 million dead money hit. If he’s not performing for this team, he will not be in Arizona — plain and simple.
Plus, you’ve got a first-year head coach in Jonathan Gannon who is trying to make a good first impression here. Tanking might get the Cards a good draft pick, but it certainly isn’t going to impress anyone or establish the culture Gannon wants to set.
I just don’t think that’s what’s going on here. Are the Cardinals bad? Yes. Absolutely. Worst team in the league. But are they that on purpose? I don’t think so. Let’s cut them a bit more slack than that.
Normally, that would be the story for Michigan heading into the season. But leave it to Harbaugh to absolutely flip that on its head.
He completely ripped the NCAA with a call for players to finally be able to participate in revenue sharing, ESPN’s Tom VanHareen writes.
“We all should be about diversity, equity and inclusion. I’m calling for a system that is fair, equitable and benefits all involved. Don’t exclude the student-athletes from the profits. My opinion, you can’t say you’re about diversity, equity and inclusion, if you aren’t willing to include the student-athletes in revenue sharing.”
Harbaugh is absolutely right, but this isn’t a new revelation. Folks have been saying this for years. But many other powerful head coaches have scoffed at the idea — looking at you, Nick Saban. That’s why this is huge.
Now that we’ve got all of these super conferences, though, this is a conversation that’s going to spring up more and more because the money is only going to get bigger and the players aren’t seeing a cent of it.
Is this a bit self-serving from Harbaugh? Sure. The Big Ten makes a ton of media money. It just signed a $7 billion with Fox. Michigan has a lot more money than other schools, which would help with recruiting.
That doesn’t matter though. He’s still right. It’s time for these schools to pay these players.
While you were sleeping…
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Some fans took things way too far with Ronald Acuña Jr. The Braves’ star was approached by two fans on the field in a game against the Rockies.
During the Atlanta Braves’ visit to Coors Field to play against the Colorado Rockies, a pair of fans were able to jump into the outfield during the game. Not only were they able to make it onto the field, the fans were able to get close enough to Acuña to touch him before security arrived.
From video captured in the stadium, it seemed as if the fans were looking to take a selfie with Acuña, but the entire situation was quite scary all the same.
That’s pretty terrifying and could’ve absolutely gone left. Thankfully, though, no one was hurt in the process. Acuña was OK.
Security better tighten up, though. This is wild.
Quick hits: Don’t mess with Coco Gauff … The best and worst GMs in the NFL … and more
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
— We know Coco Gauff as this super sweet, super awesome tennis player that we’ve come to love. But she’s got a fiery side, too. Just ask the umpire she popped off on the umpire during her match at the U.S. Open. And she was right, too! Don’t mess with Coco. Charles Curtis has more.
— Robert Zeglinski ranked the 5 best and worst GMs in the NFL. If you loved the coaches ranking, you’ll definitely love this one.
You’ll get plenty of pitches you like in the future that you can hit a mile or use to get a hit and steal a base.
But this one? It didn’t make you happy, I get it.
Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Austin Adams was getting ready to throw to the NL MVP favorite, when he realized the pitch clock was ticking down to zero. So he came set, took a quick beat and fired a strike down the middle.
But Acuna had put his bat down. Did he figure there would be a violation? Was he out of his rhythm by that point. Was the quick-pitch too much for him?
Austin Adams somehow avoids a pitch clock violation here to get a strike and Ronald Acuña Jr. is not happy about it. pic.twitter.com/tNXC8fAxPw
The Atlanta Braves slugger and speedster has been doing it all this season, from hitting dingers to swiping bags, and I’d even add this to the mix: On Monday night, after his teammate Matt Olson walked against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he had the presence of mind to head right to third base because Max Muncy wasn’t paying attention. Oops. And the replay shows Acuna casually jogging to second before ZOOM, he takes off.
You’d laugh too if you got struck out by an opposing catcher.
Jacob Stallings is not a pitcher.
He is, in fact, the catcher for the Miami Marlins, and he got called in to be a position player pitcher during a 14-6 blowout loss to the Atlanta Braves.
The MVP candidate stepped to the plate, watched a 46-MPH eephus pitch come in for a strike, fouled off a 78-MPH fastball, and then watched as an 85-MPH pitch caught the strike zone.
The Atlanta Braves won 101 games this season and earned a fifth straight NL East title, but their World Series defense ended this weekend shy of a trip to the NLCS. And really, a lot went wrong for the Braves in their NLDS series with the Phillies. It wasn’t one play … or player.
Yet, judging from Braves radio analyst Joe Simpson’s call in Game 4, you would have guessed that Ronald Acuña Jr. was responsible for the postseason letdown.
While Acuña was one of the few reliable hitters in the series for Atlanta, the Braves star was caught ball watching on J.T. Realmuto’s inside-the-park home run in Game 4. At the point the ball evaded Michael Harris II and ricocheted off the wall, Acuña had yet to move. At best, Acuña would have been able to hold Realmuto to a triple if he was actively backing up the play. It was a mistake, sure. But you almost never hear a team radio broadcast go in on a star player like Simpson did on Saturday.
Take a listen (Note: the bottom video):
J.T. Realmuto's inside-the-park homer as heard on Braves radio… dude was sick of Acuña lmaoooooo pic.twitter.com/2Z9Xzhx48a
There’s no denying that Acuña could have done better there. But the Braves have also told Acuña — who is coming off a torn ACL — to take it easy running this season. It’s why we hadn’t seen him run out ground balls this season — it was an instruction from the Braves. So it’s a bit unfair to expect max effort on a fly ball to left-center field while simultaneously telling him to take it easy on the knee.
The play didn’t ultimately make much of a difference as the Braves lost, 8-3. But it was certainly a talking point heading into what will be a long offseason for the Braves.
So while the city of Atlanta is enjoying the Hawks’ incredible NBA playoff run, the Braves are quickly looking like one of the MLB season’s biggest disappointments.
After falling just a game short of the NL pennant last year, the Braves are five games below .500 through 65 games and trailing the Mets by 7.5 games in the NL East standings. Cold starts from reliable hitters, injuries, a suddenly abysmal bullpen and Marcell Ozuna’s domestic violence arrest have all torpedoed this season.
And now, manager Brian Snitker may have disgruntled his biggest star.
During Atlanta’s 10-8 loss to the Red Sox on Wednesday, Ronald Acuña Jr. was thrown out at third as he tried to stretch his ninth-inning, RBI double into a triple.
I love me some Ronald Acuna but this absolutely CAN NOT happen. Still 2 with 1 out in the 9th and you get thrown out easily trying for 3rd base when you gain nothing by getting to 3rd instead of just stopping at 2nd and bringing the tying run to the plate. pic.twitter.com/DwlBAxioop
It was a needlessly aggressive mistake by Acuña, but the loss was far from the Braves phenom’s fault. The Braves bullpen allowed six runs in the game, including a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh. But Snitker’s postgame remarks chose to focus on Acuña’s mistake, saying that the Braves star couldn’t do “stupid things” like that and expect to win.
Brian Snitker on Acuña getting thrown out at 3rd:
"You can't do stupid things like that and expect to win games. We have the tying run at the plate & the MVP and you get thrown out by 10 feet. You can't do that and expect to win."
Those comments appeared to catch the attention of both Acuña Jr. and his father because curious posts briefly appeared on their Instagram pages. First, Acuña Jr. posted this photo from Kong: Skull Island before deleting it.
Honestly, it doesn’t get much more cryptic than that. Like, what does that even mean? But the fact that Acuña Jr. deleted the post obviously had fans connecting it to Snitker’s remarks.
It got worse, though. Acuña’s father blasted Snitker on Instagram in now-deleted comments. There was nothing cryptic about this: (NSFW language)
The rough translation to English:
The same (expletive) as Tony La Russa. Old dumb(expletive). Both of them.
Who’s more stupid than you that every time they get to the 7th inning and three lefties come up to bat, you bring in a right hander? God dammit always defending the white players. You’ve made a thousand stupidities, and that’s why they’re in first place.
Clearly some heavy sarcasm in that last sentence, but man, that’s not great at all for Snitker.
His team is coming off a rough stretch, and now he has his best player (and his dad) publicly upset with him.
It’s still early enough where the Braves could turn things around, but if they don’t, it’ll be tough to overlook this ordeal when the Braves evaluate Snitker’s future in Atlanta.
