By Joiner Martínez
Sep 30, 2023, 8:01 PM EDT
The 2023 season of Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr has been simply magnificent and historic since the intensity of the game that characterizes him could hardly be seen in any other baseball player in the United States.
Acuña recently became the fifth slugger to enter the select club of players with 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same campaign, in addition, he inaugurated the club of at least 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases in the same season.
And without a doubt, for these and many more reasons, Acuña Jr. has been chosen as the “Brave” of the year, a vote that is carried out within the Atlanta Braves franchise to choose the most important player in the race. .
Everything seemed to indicate that the native of La Sabana, La Guaira state, would have competition in 2023 when seeing Matt Olson’s incredible offensive numbers. But no, the election was completely unanimous, according to journalist Justin Toscano on his Twitter account.
Each year, the Atlanta chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America votes to name a Brave of the Year.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is the 2023 Brave of the Year. The vote was unanimous.
It’s the second such honor for Acuña, who also won in 2018 after a stellar rookie season.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) September 30, 2023
New record
In the duel that the Atlanta Braves lost 10-6 against the Washington Nationals, the Venezuelan equaled the franchise’s modern era record for stolen bases in a season.
Acuña stole a base in the first inning and another in the second to total 72 steals this season, the most in the Major Leagues, and thus equal the Braves’ record in the modern era established by Otis Nixon in 1991.
Acuña strengthened his candidacy for NL MVP on Wednesday, when he became the first player with at least 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases in the same season.
The scams put Acuña in a select group. King Kelly set the Braves franchise record with 84 stolen bases in 1887. But before this year, the only Braves with 50 stolen bases in a season were Nixon and Hap Myers (1913).
Acuña joined Barry Bonds and Eric Davis last August as the only players with 50 or more stolen bases in a 30-homer season. Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. needs one more steal to become the fourth member of the group.
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Ronald Acuña Jr made history in the Major Leagues and his children became the true protagonists [Video]