Even on an off night, the Ronald Acuña Jr. show is a hit

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hacheman@therx.com
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Even on an off night, the Ronald Acuña Jr. show is a hit
Keith Law
ESPN INSIDER


I headed to Citizens Bank Park this past Saturday to see the Ronald Acuña Jr. show and got the one hitless game of his brief major league career to date, as well as some unexpected rain. It was his least productive game so far for the Atlanta Braves, but he did at least show the tools that marked him as the best prospect in the game before the season, with some very promising at-bats against the Philadelphia Phillies' pitchers.

Acuña has ridiculous bat speed and swings a lot like Vlad Guerrero (either one), rarely getting cheated and swinging hard all the time; you've already seen the results in some of the balls he squared up in his first series against Cincinnati. When he was in Triple-A to start the year, he was overly aggressive at the plate, both in approach and in trying to hit the ball out of the park. I spoke to one scout who said that if Acuña brought that level of indiscipline to the majors, he'd struggle badly.

Yet through five games, Acuña hasn't looked like his Triple-A self at all. On Saturday, he popped out on the first pitch he saw, but then he ran the count full in his next three plate appearances, walking once, striking out once and hitting an infield popup. His results were meh, but his choices at the plate were good, and he seemed not just patient but intent. He has also shown plus-plus speed and outstanding range in left field -- he's really a center fielder, playing left because two-time Gold Glove winner
Ender Inciarte
is on the roster -- and, with no real reason to doubt that he'll hit given his tools and eye at the plate, he seems like he'll be a star right away, even at age 20.

Mike Foltynewicz started that game for Atlanta and pitched well, with his highest strike percentage (71) of the season, but he particularly impressed with his ramped-up use of his changeup. Foltynewicz has always had the pitch but rarely used it, and he struggled badly against left-handed batters last year as a result. He's using the changeup about twice as often this year, and so far, in a limited sample, he is missing more left-handed bats than he did last year (about 67 percent more) and even more than he has been missing right-handers' bats. He still walks too many guys, and he still can be homer-prone (as his 96-99 mph fastball is still pretty straight), but if he has really closed that platoon split even most of the way, he has top-of-the-rotation potential

.
Nick Pivetta has the opposite problem: Atlanta's left-handed bats had a field day against the Phillies right-hander, part of an ongoing trend this year of him killing right-handed hitters with his slider and curve but not finding a weapon against lefties. Five of the six hits Pivetta surrendered were to lefties -- not counting the home run hit by Freddie Freeman that was stolen by Odubel Herrera -- as were two of the three walks he issued. I think this is mostly about the lack of a changeup or splitter in Pivetta's repertoire, though his short stride probably gives left-handed hitters a slightly better look at the ball as well.
 

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5-0 Braves

[FONT=&quot]Ronald Acuña Jr. homered (421 ft.) to deep left center[/FONT]
 
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Can a 180 lb guy hit 35? I have him in a HR contest.

I took him over in a futures bet for this season, i believe it was at 30, or close to there (it's posted in my thread.) Last year he hit 26 in 111 games. So the over 35 is definitely possible with Freddy in front of him getting on base and if Markakis hitting behind him can have a solid season
 

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