WASHINGTON – Bat met ball in the top of the seventh inning, the latter flying out of the ballpark at 104 mph and soon, Ronald Acuña Jr. was flapping his arms and getting saluted in return by Atlanta Braves coaches and teammates, having witnessed another superlative from their now 28-year-old superstar.
“It’s freakish talent,” says Braves manager Walt Weiss. “And so he’s capable of doing unbelievable things.”In this case, on a rainy Wednesday, Sept 2 at Nationals Park, Acuña became the quickest player to reach 200 stolen bases and 200 homers, hitting the mark in just 904 career games, 25 sooner than Alfonso Soriano.
For a guy who debuted at 20 to reach a “fastest to” plateau at 28 seems momentarily incongruous. Yet that simply speaks to the adversity Acuña has faced after the sheen of his instant stardom wore off.
A pair of torn ACLs, one on each leg, essentially robbed him of two seasons, including the Braves’ run to the 2021 World Series championship. This season, a hamstring strain sent him twice to the injured list, and Weiss saw fit to bench him to “slow the game down” when he struggled returning from his second IL stint.
Those struggles seemed far away Wednesday.
Acuña singled, swiped second – his 20th steal in 29 tries this year – and scored in the sixth inning. An inning later, he clobbered a first-pitch 95 mph sinker up in the zone from Nationals reliever Max Kranick 379 feet into the Nationals bullpen for a 6-0 lead.
Two hundred to pair with his 225 steals.
In this era of liberal stolen-base rules, Acuña tops several superlative lists. But this one might be most significant – it implies longevity while also speaking to his precocious talent.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ronald Acuña Jr. makes MLB history as fastest to join 200-200 club
Reporting by Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
