Atlanta Braves: The significance of Ronald Acuña’s pursuit of 40-40
Atlanta Braves phenom, Ronald Acuña Jr., is on the verge of doing something historic but you wouldn’t know it from the national media.
The Atlanta Braves are all but a lock to clinch the NL East and finish with at least the second-best record in the National League.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of drama left in these final two weeks of games for the Braves.
Fans of the Atlanta Braves are well aware of Ronald Acuña Jr.’s pursuit of a 40-40 season, but he isn’t quite getting the love nationally that he deserves.
In fact, if you only watch the highlight shows on ESPN and MLB Network you probably wouldn’t even know that Acuña is on the verge of reaching this historic achievement.
To put it in perspective, only four people in the entire history of Major League Baseball have hit 40 home runs and stolen 40 bases in a single season.
That list includes Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, and Jose Canseco.
And you may read those names and realize that every single one of them has been linked to using performance-enhancing drugs.
While they won’t note it in the history books, Acuña could be the first clean player to ever reach the 40-40 mark.
But one thing is for certain, at 22-years-old he would be the youngest to complete this feat.
What’s left to be done?
After a stolen base in Tuesday’s game, he is now just 1 home run shy of 40 and 3 stolen bases away from 40 with 10 games left to play.
That doesn’t seem like much, but Acuña has really been struggling at the plate lately and is piling up the strikeouts.
He mentioned in an article with Mark Bowman of MLB.com that he’s not feeling any pressure, but it’s hard to believe that when you look at his recent results.
He’s hitting just .200 in the month of September with 23 strikeouts in 60 at-bats.
Still, you would have to think Acuña runs into at least one home run in the final 10 games — that is, if Brian Snitker doesn’t decide to sit him and rest him for the postseason once they clinch the division.
As an old school guy, I think Snitker realizes how significant this achievement is and will give Acuña every opportunity to get there.
But at the same time, this team has much bigger goals in mind and has to make sure his players are prepared for the postseason.
The stolen bases are the tricky part — even though he has more stolen bases than home runs over his last five games.
It seems like he’ll go several games without a stolen base and then he’ll steal two in one game.
But every time he gets on first base now he’s going to be trying to steal, and opponents know he’s going as well.
Again, with 10 games left it feels like this is attainable.
And if Acuña does reach this milestone it better be celebrated all around baseball.
I remember growing up how every newspaper had a counter of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa‘s home run total in 1998.
There should be a ticker somewhere with Acuña’s up-to-date totals, and MLB Network should be cutting away to every one of his at-bats and every time he gets on first.
Personally I feel like people are failing to see the historical significance of this possible achievement.
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How do you feel about Acuña’s pursuit of 40-40? Is it a big deal to you as fans? Let us know in the comments below.