The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Acuna moves on from being sent to minors Top prospect will probably have a very short stay after impressive spring training.
Ronald Acuna would’ve preferred to play for the Braves instead of against them as a member of the “Future Stars” team in Tuesday night’s exhibition at SunTrust Park, but the 20-year-old phenom said all the right things and insisted that being reassigned to minor league camp March 19 wasn’t a setback or annoyance.
Consider it one more thing the fivetool prospect does well: He understands the business of baseball.
“I obviously wanted to start (in the majors) and keep my entire time with the big league squad,” Acuna said through an interpreter in his first interview since he was sent down from major league camp. “When they told me, naturally I was a
little bit disappointed, but that’s not going to deter me ... I’m going to keep working hard, do everything I can, keep giving it my all and keep moving forward.”
Legendary former Braves manager Bobby Cox returned to uniform to manage the Future Stars team in Tuesday’s game and hit Acuna second, ahead of power-hitting prospects Austin Riley and Alex Jackson. When a reporter feigned second-guessing the manager by asking him why he hit baseball’s consensus No. 1 prospect second, Cox didn’t miss a beat with his reply: “We couldn’t hit him 1-2-34-5-6-7-8-9.”
But seriously, Cox said: “He could hit anywhere. Doesn’t matter where he hits in the lineup. He’s a dynamic-type player. Five-tool guy. A little bit more seasoning down in Triple-A, get him off to a good start and hopefully he gets up here pretty soon.”
At the time he was sent down, Acuna led the Grapefruit League and ranked second in the majors in average (.432), on-base percentage (.519), slugging percentage (.727) and OPS (1.247), and he led the Braves in home runs (four) and stolen bases (four) and was tied for the team lead in RBIs (11) and runs (eight). Despite being their best player during spring training and having the left field position waiting for him to take over after the Braves cleared Matt Kemp out of the picture this winter with that in mind, the decision to reassign him still didn’t surprise many in the baseball industry or others who understand how some of the sport’s economic rules operate.
Because even though the Braves and general manager Alex Anthopoulos insisted the move was for developmental reasons, to give Acuna a little more seasoning after rushing through three levels of the minor leagues in 2017, it’s widely believed it was done because the Braves could assure another full season of contractual control before free agency by keeping Acuna in the minors until at least April 14. And most people will be surprised if he’s not up either that day or soon thereafter. Until then, he’ll play for the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, who start their season April 6.
“I’m not feeling impatient at all,” said Acuna. “All I can do is go down to Gwinnett and give my best effort and hope to get the call as soon as possible.”
He’s gone from playing in Single-A to being on the cusp of his major league career in 12 months, and the Braves have been encouraged and impressed by how well Acuna has handled the growing attention and expectations.
“I’m very fortunate in the sense that I’ve never really felt pressured or let the attention get to me or anything like that,” Acuna said. “To be honest, I get a lot of energy from seeing the fans and their support and everything. So that’s a big motivator for me.”
Acuna denies report of $30 million offer: Acuna quashed a published report he rejected a $30 million contract offer from the Braves. ESPN Deportes, citing an unnamed source, reported he rejected the offer that would’ve been in the range of five or six years.
“I’m not sure where that came from,” Acuna said, “because as of now we haven’t received a contract, no one’s talked to me about it and there was no contract that was turned down.”