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Acuña says he will miss ‘nothing’ about Freeman

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Freddie Freeman wasn’t adored by everyone in Atlanta, it turns out.

Freeman’s former Braves teammate Ronald Acuña Jr. said there’s “nothing” he will miss about the Braves’ first baseman of 12 years, citing “lots of clashes.”

Acuña made the comments during an Instagram Live Spanishspe­aking interview late Wednesday with Dominican Republic-based sports reporter Yancen Pujols.

When asked by Pujols what he would miss about Freeman, Acuña responded, “Me? Nothing.”

Acuña and Freeman were teammates for four seasons, since Acuña broke into the league as Rookie of the Year in 2018.

“We were close in that we shared the same stadium,” Acuña told Pujols, “but we had a lot of, how do you say ...”

“Lots of clashes,” Pujols interjecte­d.

“Lots of clashes,” Acuña said, nodding.

Freeman addressed the interview Thursday on MLB Network.

“Obviously, I’ve heard everything that was said but I’m gonna miss Ronald ... my family is gonna miss Ronald,” Freeman said. “That’s my side of it. I love Ronald Acuña and I can’t wait for him to get healthy and get on the field. I think he’s great for the game of baseball. It’s a talent that is something that is going to be talked about for 100-plus years because those kind of talents don’t come around in this game.”

When they were teammates, Acuña didn’t take well to being told how to behave by Freeman and other veterans.

“When you come up as a rookie, there’s always someone who (wants to tell you how to do things),” Acuña said. “You come up from the minor leagues with the big eye black, the sunglasses, the hat low, and a lot of people see that as wrong. And the other person doesn’t see it as wrong because it’s part of the game. A lot of veterans (picked on me) when I was a rookie and they called me into the office themselves and told me, ‘No, you can’t use that’ and they took it off me with a towel like that.”

Freeman addressed the incident regarding eye black.

“When you put on a Braves uniform in that organizati­on, there are organizati­onal rules,” Freeman said. “You don’t cover the A (on your cap) with sunglasses. You don’t wear earrings, you have your hair a certain length. You wear your uniform out on the dirt in (batting practice). You don’t have eye black coming down over your whole face . ... I guess I was one of the older guys that did have to enforce those kind of things in the clubhouse but when you put on a Braves uniform those are what happen there.”

Acuña said he stayed quiet about it because he was a rookie.

“I can’t say anything, you know? I just said, ‘One day I’ll be a veteran.’ I’m not saying I’m a veteran right now, but nobody’s gonna take the eye black off my face now, you know?” Acuña said.

Asked Thursday about how much attention his words about Freeman were getting, Acuña said his quotes were blown out of proportion.

“I don’t regret it,” Acuña told reporters in Spanish on Thursday, according to The Athletic. “He signed with another team. (The reporter) asked me what I would miss about him. What should I miss about someone who’s on another team?”

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