NEW YORK — Ronald Acuña Jr. appears comfy when requested about his possibilities of becoming a member of baseball’s unique “40-40” membership.
It could be due to how shut he got here to the achievement in 2019 — when he completed three steals brief — or just because the numbers comply with him every time he steps into the batter’s field.
“You notice it every day, because when you play, there’s a big screen showing all your stats,” the Braves’ outfielder informed LasMayores.com in Spanish. “But I think if God wants me to get there, at some point it’s going to happen.”
Given Acuña’s mixture of energy and velocity, all eyes are on his possibilities of becoming a member of a membership that solely has 4 members: Alfonso Soriano (2006), Alex Rodríguez (1998), Barry Bonds (1996) and José Canseco (1988) are the one gamers in historical past to have achieved a 40-40 season. Acuña made historical past this 12 months as the primary participant in AL/NL historical past with a minimum of 20 house runs and 50 stolen bases earlier than the month of August.
Acuña has already checked off one portion of the 40-40 standards, and so far as his house run whole goes, 40 nonetheless appears lifelike. The Venezuelan-born proper fielder entered play Saturday with 26 homers in 114 video games, which is kind of on par along with his 2019 tempo, when he had 27 dingers after the identical variety of video games.
In the stolen-base division, Acuña has swiped 54 luggage up to now this 12 months. That leads the Majors, with eight greater than the participant in second place (Esteury Ruiz of the A’s, the American League chief, with 46 steals).
Nonetheless, though he’s conscious of how shut he got here to the milestone up to now and of his possibilities of attaining it this 12 months, his focus proper now’s being on the sphere day-after-day.
“I want to do it, really,” Acuña stated. “But I don’t have it as a goal, that I want to achieve this or that. My main focus is staying healthy. That’s what’s most important — health. As long as you are healthy, you can think about what to do on the field. At the end, in September, October, you’ll see the numbers.”
The well being that Acuña references and that he has loved this 12 months could maintain him from dwelling on the stats that flash throughout virtually each step he takes on the sphere.
What did frustrate him to some extent was his lack of ability to play at his finest in 2022 following the suitable knee surgical procedure he underwent in ’21 to restore a torn ACL he suffered midseason. That’s why what he’s completed up to now this season has a larger significance for Acuña.
In addition to his 26 house runs and 54 stolen bases, Acuña ranks second within the Senior Circuit with a 1.003 OPS to associate with a .338/.422/.581 slash line — and he’s among the many high three within the National League in batting common, on-base proportion and slugging.
“I’m happy and grateful to God,” Acuña stated. “I really went through a difficult time. I think last year was one of the hardest moments for me, dealing with the knee, because sometimes I would wake up fine, sometimes I would wake up in pain. But this year I’m healthy, thank God.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com