God of baseball?: Acuña foresees ‘wonderful things ahead’ during difficult times

admin | May 20, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

When asked about his poor start to the season, Ronald Acuña Jr. may have faked a smile or given an inauthentic positive spin.

But the reigning National League MVP opted to be brutally honest.

“I don’t know if it’s timing [of the swing] or not,” Acuña explained through an interpreter. “But right now, I’m not that good.”

On Sunday night at Truist Park, the Braves suffered a 9-1 loss to the Padres, adding to their already difficult week. Despite two three-game losing streaks this month, Atlanta still owns the National League’s third-best record.

In fact, the Braves have the same record (26-16) as they did over the first 42 games of last year’s 104-win season.

“You’ve just got to grind through it, keep your head above water, and get back to hitting on all cylinders,” Braves manager Brian Snitker explained. “We aren’t. It’s something we go through every year.

The Braves had the second-worst record in the National League from May 10 to June 2, 2023. All of this had been forgotten by September, when the squad won its sixth consecutive NL East crown. Acuña’s record-breaking season of 40 home runs and 70 steals made dealing with frustration easier.

Acuña through his first 41 games played:

2023: .344 BA, 9 HR , 17 SB, 1.024 OPS
2024: .242 BA, 3 HR, 14 SB, .689 OPS

On Sunday night, Acuña misplayed a fly ball during San Diego’s four-run sixth inning, possibly due to light interference. But it’s more tough to give him the benefit of the doubt after he was picked off first base three times in a row last week.

“It’s pretty hard when you lose a ball in the lights,” Acuña remarked, “but that’s no excuse.” “I just dropped it.”

Acuña is searching for relief, not excuses.

His Baseball Savant website indicates a lot more swing and miss than it did last year, when he dropped his strikeout percentage to 11.4%, which is significantly better than his 23.6% rate in both 2021 and 2022.

In 2023, Acuña’s barrel rate was at the 93rd percentile. It was at the 63rd percentile on Sunday. This year, he has a whiff rate of 22 percent and a strikeout rate of 28 percent. They were in the 84th and 97th percentiles last year.

“I’m not sure what to tell you; it feels like I’m missing everything right now,” Acuña remarked. “But I’m confident it will get turned around and there will be good things ahead.”

Once it turns, it should be clear why the Braves entered this season certain that they would win the World Series for the second time in four years.

Despite Spencer Strider making only one healthy start before suffering a season-ending elbow injury, the rotation has been one of the team’s strongest.

However, Charlie Morton only lasted three innings on Thursday, while Max Fried was removed after four and a third innings on Friday. Then, on Sunday, Bryce Elder let up seven runs, six of which were earned, in three-plus innings. During such a span, Acuña’s troubles intensify.

Check that. The difficulties faced by almost every Braves hitter other than Marcell Ozuna became more apparent. It doesn’t help that third baseman Austin Riley has missed five games with a strained left side, and catcher Sean Murphy has been out since opening day.

Ozuna has the third highest OPS in the Majors, at 1.004. Ozzie Albies is second on the squad at.754, with Matt Olson coming in third at.718. Riley checks in at.707.

Star players will go through slumps. This is essentially the same lineup that tied the MLB record with 307 home runs and became the only AL/NL team to have a slugging percentage above.500.

“It’s pretty frustrating, because we all know what we’re capable of and the potential we have as a group,” Acuña said. “But there’s nothing we can do, other than to keep fighting and keep playing hard.”