Atlanta Braves: Ronald Acuna pimps a single, gets benched

A chance for a big inning against the Dodgers on Sunday may have been snuffed by an indiscretion committed by the Atlanta Braves budding superstar.

It was another tight game getting started between the Atlanta Braves and LA Dodgers.  The visitors were off to a 3-0 start while Max Fried worked to get himself on track.

As the third inning began, the Atlanta offense was having trouble getting itself started up against Dodger spot-starter Tony Gonsolin.

At that point, only Adeiny Hechavarria had managed a safety, but suddenly things started happening as Max Fried himself led off the 3rd with a ringing double high off the tall right field wall at SunTrust Park.

That brought up leadoff hitter Ronald Acuna Jr. with a chance to do some damage.  He did… kinda.

On the 2nd pitch he saw, Acuna likewise drilled a ball toward the same wall with a much higher loft… 38 degrees as opposed to Fried’s 24 degree liner.

It was also an opposite field shot, so there was arguably a fair chance that he didn’t get all of it.

Yet, Acuna chose not to get moving quickly and instead slowly began to stride toward 1st base as he ogled…

… a ball that also glanced off the wall and back into the field of play.

A single.

Not the double that his pitcher had quite literally just legged out.  It was a single for Acuna after wasting his time in admiration of a non-homer.

In fact, Fried certainly had his doubts about the ball’s disposition.  He (properly) felt the need to hold at second base to insure that the ball wasn’t going to be caught for an out.

Once that possibility was resolved, Fried scampered to 3rd base.  But his teammate was mired across the diamond.

The Hustle Factor

It isn’t that Acuna doesn’t hustle.  That much is clear.  He was running well in the 1st inning when an error allowed him to get to second base.

But in this case, Acuna’s pimp-job put runners at (only) 1st and 3rd with no one out.  And it was a obvious gaffe to anyone paying even casual attention.

When Ozzie Albies batting, Acuna attempted to ‘correct’ his failure by stealing second base.  That didn’t work either as catcher Will Smith threw him out.

This ended up compounding the failure as the Braves now had only 1 runner on base with one out.

Other hitters weren’t able to pick up Fried as he was eventually left stranded at third base.  Still 3-0 Dodgers.

It took some time for this action to simmer.  As a result, there’s room for speculation as to whether Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker opted to take action on his own or at the prompting of a team leader like Freddie Freeman – who had been noticed speaking with Snitker.

Either way, Snitker and Acuna disappeared from the dugout in the bottom of the 4th inning… and only Snitker returned.

UPDATE:  We have the answer… and it’s a good one:

Adam Duvall was inserted into the game. Ronald Acuna was removed… for disciplinary purposes.

There’s Braves’ precedent for this… Andruw Jones was removed from the field during a game in 1998 when manager Bobby Cox believed that he hadn’t hustled for a fly ball defensively.

Another generational talent… another era… similar age (roughly within a year of each other at the time)… same kind of managerial response.

Andruw Jones went on to have a great Braves’ career and become (arguably) the best defensive centerfielder in baseball history.

We’ll have to wait for the career of Acuna to unfold to see how he reacts to today’s action.

Not about a single game

Ultimately, this play isn’t at all about either the results of this particular inning or the results of this particular game.

The Atlanta Braves have a young superstar on their hands for a lot of years and they need to make sure that his next 1,500-odd games in a Braves’ uniform are better than this 1 game.

This “lesson” is being taught despite Atlanta having a short bench, multiple players out with injuries, and the fact that they’re still in a battle to win their division… while playing the NL-leading Dodgers.

It’s that important.

Whether Atlanta wins or loses this game does not matter so much as making sure that they get the most out of a generational talent in Ronald Acuna.  That won’t happen if he starts routinely going all ‘Manny Machado’ on his teammates.

Remember Machado’s ‘”I’m not Johnny Hustle” remarks?  That came after he admired a non-homer into a single in the World Series.

This is clearly a habit that the Braves don’t want to see repeated… and for good reason.

However it can to be, it’s applauded here that the Braves exercised their leverage by sending Acuna to an early shower.

Hopefully that lesson is learned and taken to heart.