Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Ronald Acuña promoted to AA Mississippi

After an off-day that saw some changes at the AAA and major league levels, there was a very interesting move made in the Florida State League.

The Atlanta Braves have opted to present a challenge to 19-year-old Ronald Acuña :

This past season, the Braves spent roughly $27 million to bring in 33 International teenagers – deemed worth the cost – and the penalties.

Kevin Maitan got over $4 million of that; Abrahan Gutierrez came in close to $3 million.

But it’s Acuña – another Venezuelan prospect that signed for $100,000 in 2014 – that’s no longer flying under the radar.

If you just look at the stat sheet for the Florida Fire Frogs, there are things that will catch your eye… but most of that isn’t from Acuña ‘s line:

• Carlos Castro – a .327 batting average
• Tyler Neslony – a 1.021 OPS
• Alex Jackson – listed as an outfielder, but he’s catching and hitting as DH… and he’s really hitting:  .295 with 10 homers and a .934 OPS.
• Austin Riley – 7 homers, .290 average

But Acuña ?  His .287 is obviously good, though it’s kind of buried on the sheet behind his raking teammates in that formidable offense.  14 steals in just 17 attempts for the speedy outfielder will also get some notice.

There’s also 40 strikeouts in 123 plate appearances.  That will be a number worth monitoring.

But there’s everything else about him, too … specifically, the reviews:

"Ronald Acuña was a relatively obscure prospect until Bobby Cox and some other Braves executives returned from the instructional league last year raving about this five-tool prospect who had caught their attention with essentially anything and everything he did on the baseball field."

…

"When Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones got their first glimpses during Spring Training this year, they raved about Acuña , who received what appears to be a bargain $100,000 signing bonus after he was found by Braves assistant director of Latin American operations Rolando Petit."

BaseballAmerica’s Ben Badler had kind words to say about him also:

"It’s not a bunch of 60s and 70s on the card, but he’s a good athlete who does a lot of things well with no glaring weaknesses, a good combination of tools and skills… Probably the biggest change since he signed and even since last year is that his raw power has increased."

Still, this bump to AA is a “push”, though it’s not without precedent:

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Acuña will be the youngest of this trio – not turning 20 until the week before Christmas.  McAuley also noted for the record that Ozzie Albies was the youngest in AAA when the season started … and by quite a margin.

>> By the way:  Kolby Allard was the Braves minor league pitcher of the month and featured on the MLB Pipeline prospects team.

Ben Chase gave us a full scouting report on Acuña in February, and touted his power tool quite a bit:

"There may not be a bigger fan of Acuña than David [Lee of BaseballProspectus], and he’s been quick to say that Acuña’s power is by far his loudest tool.Right now, I have him as a 60 only due to the fact that he’s showing that power in batting practice so far, not in games, but Acuña has explosive strength in his swing from his lower half and hands/wrists that should lead to plenty of power as he matures, even bumping this grade up a full grade."

More Promotions Coming?

This is the point at which teams might move a few guys around, perhaps to ‘correct’ some placements that might have been made at the beginning of the year, but this looks to be a genuine promotion.. and an early one at that.

Alex Jackson is another that you might normally think has earned a bump as well, but his situation is different:  he is re-learning the catcher position, and while that is going very well – especially with his bat – I imagine that it will still be a bit before the organization deems him ready to handle the extraordinary pitching staff assembled at Mississippi.

Next: Lots of responsibility, few perks? Sign me up.

But for fans and for Ronald Acuña … this is some exciting news.  Certainly we hope for continued success in the Southern League this Summer.