Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuna Jr. Making Baseball History with Home Run Prowess
Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. is scorching hot right now.
As we write this posting, Acuna has two home runs as part of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.
He's currently up to 15 homers and 44 RBI on the year. Pair that with his 29 stolen bases, and he's a bonafide MVP candidate in the National League.
Not only is he hitting home runs, he's crushing them. And the distance with which he's hitting them are making baseball history.
Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:
461 FT!!
Ronald Acuña Jr now has 11 460+ ft HR in his career
that’s TWO MORE than anyone else in MLB since the start of 2018
Most fences are between 330-400 feet, so you don't always need to hit it 460+, but Acuna is finding a way to do it with regularity.
Also, per Langs:
most 450+ ft HR before July, single season under Statcast (2015):
2015 Giancarlo Stanton: 8
2023 Ronald Acuña Jr.: 6
2019 Josh Bell: 5
most in a season in that span is 10, by Stanton in ’17
he’s MORE THAN halfway there. it’s MID-JUNE
What's even crazier about this run for Acuna is that he's a leadoff hitter. Maybe he's not the prototypical leadoff hitter, but he's still not in a traditional power position, yet he's playing like a traditional power player.
His .335 average is tied for second in baseball while his 15 homers are tied for 12th. His 29 stolen bases are second.
The Braves and Tigers are currently tied at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth inning of game two.
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