Never leave your seat when Ronald Acuna Jr. (26, Atlanta) is at bat. If he thinks, ‘It’s okay to buy me a beer’ or ‘I can go to the bathroom’, he will miss a scene in history.”
Major League Baseball (MLB) Atlanta manager Brian Snicker said this after a 4-2 victory over Cleveland on the 4th. As coach Snicker said, a new history was made at the beginning of the 3rd inning of this game. Acuña Jr. stole second base immediately after getting a hit. With his 40th steal of the season, Acuña Jr. became the first player in MLB history to record 20 homers, 40 stolen bases and 50 RBIs before the All-Star break.
Acuña Jr. played as a top hitter in the game against Cleveland on the 5th, in which the team lost 5-6, and hit 2 hits in 4 at-bats, and also succeeded in stealing second base in the 5th inning. Until this day, his season performance is a batting average of 0.337, 21 homers, 41 stolen bases, 54 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 1.013. He ranks first in the National League (NL) in stolen bases and OPS, second in batting average, and seventh in home runs.
Game 5 was Atlanta’s 85th game of the season. As of the team’s 85th game, no player has ever achieved 20 homers and 40 stolen bases. The player with the most similar performance is Ricky Henderson (65), who holds the record for the most stolen bases in his personal career (1406). Henderson hit 15 home runs and 50 stolen bases in 1986 and 17 home runs and 41 stolen bases in 1990.
At his current pace, Acuna Jr. could join the 30 home run-60 stolen base club for the first time in MLB history. Previously, there were only two players with more than 30 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season. Barry Bonds (59), who holds the MLB career record for most home runs (762), recorded 33 home runs and 52 stolen bases in 1990 while playing for Pittsburgh, and Eric Davis (61) also left 37 home runs and 50 stolen bases in Cincinnati in 1987.
Acuña Junior from Venezuela is like a ‘pearl from the soil’. Born into a baseball family where both his grandfather and father were minor leaguers, Acuña Jr. signed with Atlanta for just $100,000 (about 130 million won) as an international free agent (FA) in 2014 at the age of 17. After going through the minor leagues for three years from 2015, as soon as he debuted in the big leagues in 2018, he hit 0.293 with a batting average of 0.293, 26 homers, 64 RBIs and 16 stolen bases, becoming the rookie of the year.
In April of the following year, Atlanta signed a long-term contract with Acuna Junior, who had not played in the MLB for less than a year, for 8 years and 100 million dollars (approximately 130 billion won). Acuña Jr. came close to the 40 home run-40 steal club that year with 41 home runs and 37 steals. His MLB career record until the 5th was 141 home runs and 148 stolen bases, and he is aiming to join the club with 500 home runs and 500 stolen bases for the second time since Bonds (762 home runs and 514 stolen bases).
Amidst the performance of Acuña Jr.,안전놀이터추천 who has both offensive, defensive, and baserunning abilities, Atlanta is currently running 57-28 (0.671 win rate), ranking first among all 30 MLB teams in winning rate. As long as there is no change, Acuna Junior’s selection as the NL MVP this season is also a matter of course. “I’m so happy with what’s unfolding for me and our team this season,” said Acuña Jr.