Ronald Acuna Jr. offends Pirates' TV crew by being himself

Tom Gatto

Ronald Acuna Jr. offends Pirates' TV crew by being himself image

Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. is a magnet for inside fastballs — and, it seems, announcers who hate how he plays.

Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Pirates analyst Steve Blass made a point to comment on Acuna's jewelry, which came out from inside Acuna's jersey after he took a big swing. On the next pitch, Bucs pitcher Steve Brault hit Acuna in the left elbow with a heater. 

As Blass and play-by-play announcer Greg Brown viewed the replay, Blass mentioned that hitters who played with Acuna's swagger "back in the day" would have received similar treatment. Brown said he didn't believe Brault's pitch was intentional, and Blass agreed. There's a question over whether Blass called the 21-year-old Acuna a "prick" toward the end of the clip.

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Acuna has been hit by pitches five times in 2019, to go with six HBPs as a rookie last year. The best-known plunking came last August when Marlins pitcher Jose Urena drilled Acuna with a high-90s fastball, sparking a benches-clearing incident. Acuna was forced to leave the game. MLB suspended Urena for six games for the pitch.

This is the second time in a week that a Pirates analyst went all "Get off my lawn" about an opposing player. John Wehner, who is one of the Bucs' color commentators along with Blass and Bob Walk, ripped Reds infielder Derek Dietrich for pimping home runs (seven of his 16 homers this season have come against the Bucs) and getting excited about good plays.

Wehner said that Dietrich's grandfather, former major leaguer Steve Demeter, is "rolling in his grave every time (Dietrich) hits a home run."

Blass, 77, is retiring from broadcasting after the season. His pitching career ended prematurely in the mid-1970s when he lost the ability to throw the ball over the plate. He was also a Pirates teammate of Roberto Clemente "back in the day." Clemente had to deal with similar comments from writers and announcers.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.