As the Major League Baseball season hits mid-May, the Atlanta Braves look to get over the .500 hump out in Boston tonight. After a miserable start to the season, the Braves have been playing much better baseball as of late. On top of that is the extremely welcome develop that they have gotten positive health news surrounding two of their best players.
While Spencer Strider is set to return on this very roadtrip, the timetable for one Ronald Acuña Jr. has not yet been confirmed. Luckily, Acuña Jr. looked as sharp as ever in his Triple-A debut last night. Besides his obvious superior talent compared to Triple-A competition, Acuña’s excellent night could be attributed to one area he is said to be focusing on in 2025…once again crushing the heater.
Ronald Acuña Jr. crushing fastballs again would do wonders for the Braves offense
During his press conference with the media on Wednesday afternoon, Acuña Jr. had one line that flew under the radar but could very well foreshadow what he’s focusing on in 2025. When asked what he needs to see from himself to know when he’s ready to rejoin the Braves, Acuna simply answered, “Stay ready for the fastball.”
Trouble with the curve…actually for Ronald Acuña Jr. the 2024 season was more about trouble with the fastball. After crushing everything in sight during his magical 2023 MVP season, the following year was a bit more troubling for Ronald.
Before his season ending injury, fans weren’t getting the same top tier Acuña performance that we had grown accustom to. Some of it was simple batted ball bad luck for RAJ, but a lot of it was the dropoff in production against the heater.
During his 2023 MVP season, Ronald had a batting average of .340, slugged .576, had a .425 wOBA, and whiff percentage of just 14.5% against fastballs. Last season (albeit in a much smaller sample size) Acuña Jr.’s batting average dipped to .222, slugged .350, had a .315 wOBA, and his whiff percentage nearly doubled to 27.2% against fastballs.
Those numbers seem to left a sour taste in Ronald’s mouth in regards to his 2024 performance. So him crushing some fastballs on his rehab assignment is a very welcome sight. Hopefully, there is plenty more Ronnie rockets against high velocity upcoming in 2025.
