The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MORE BRAVES INSIDE
» With winning home run, Acuna shows why he’s special
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Extraordinary vision and recognition/reaction times aren’t something that can be taught, and those are common foundations for the greatest hitters.
We can’t know if Braves wunderkind Ronald Acuna will become one of the great hitters of all time, but he’s got the vision and recognition/reaction for it, and at 20 he’s off to the kind of start that leads one to believe greatness awaits.
The latest example in the brief career of the 20-yearold Venezuelan came Tuesday night, when he brightened the dull surroundings of the outdated dome that’s home to the Tampa Bay Rays by reacting to and pulverizing a full-count slider from Rays left-hander Blake Snell, an emerging ace. It was the only scoring in a 1-0 Braves win.
Acuna was the youngest player to homer in a 1-0 game since 1935, when the Cubs’ Phil Cavarretta did it at age 19 in a game at St. Louis.
“I was looking for a fastball. He’s got a great fastball and in that situation that’s kind of what I look for,” Acuna said through a translator. “And so I was just trying to get that pitch and put a good swing on it.”
But Snell also has a good slider and threw one Acuna swung and missed for the second strike in the at-bat. He tried to get another past him with the count full, but
Acuna waylaid the pitch. Put a good swing on it, and then some.
“I feel like I’ve been able to adapt a little to the pitchers since I’ve been up in the big leagues,” Acuna said. “That’s what you have to do, that’s why they call it the big leagues.”
The first-place Braves are 8-4 since Acuna was called from Triple-A, and the youngest player in the majors has hit .320 (16 for 50) with five doubles, three homers, three walks, 10 strikeouts and a .358 OBP and robust .600 slugging percentage.
“He sees the ball really early out of the pitcher’s hand,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said after Tuesday’s win, “and I guess that’s one of those things that good hitters do .... He sees the ball, I don’t know, he identifies
the (pitch) really early. That was a strike and he hammered it.”
Snell is 4-1 with a 1.82 ERA and .182 opponents’ average in his past six starts. The loss came Tuesday, when he allowed only four hits and two walks in 6⅓ innings against the Braves.
That one pitch to Acuna – or, rather, what Acuna did to that pitch – was the difference in the game.
“I liked the pitch,” Snell said. “It’s my fault for getting 3-2 on him. I think it would’ve played out differently if I was ahead; I feel that way with anyone. Getting 3-2, he made a good swing and made me pay for it. Good job to him.”
Acuna swung and missed an 87-mph slider to push the count to 2-2, a pitcher’s count. Then he took a 96-mph fastball a little above the strike zone for ball 3. Then, the full-count slider. This time Snell left it a little too high, not down like the one Acuna swung and missed before.
That Acuna was able to get the count full was no surprise to Snitker or Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who’ve remarked since March about Acuna’s patience. It’s another quality he has in abundance, unlike most hitters his age — even most elite prospects.
“It’s what we saw in spring training,” Seitzer said. “I was so impressed with his pitch recognition the last two springs that we’ve seen him. He sees the ball early, and that’s a gift that not every hitter has. So, then the talent takes care of itself.”
After Acuna hit a line-drive first-inning double off Phillies ace Aaron Nola on April 27 in his third major league game, Seitzer described what was so special about the at-bat.
“Against Nola, that first AB he goes breaking ball, breaking ball, two strikes, then he’s 0-2 and he throws elevated 95 (mph fastball) that he was right on and fouled it back,” Seitzer said. “I mean, that’s a pitch that no hitter can normally get to, and he was right on it and fouled it back. Just the fact he was right on it and it was 95, just blew me away. I was like, holy crap.
“And then hit that freaking rocket on a pitch that’s this far outside (Seitzer demonstrates 5-6 inches with hands) that’s 112 (mph) off the bat for the RBI.”