Braves' Ronald Acuña put on an absolute show on Sunday night vs. the Phillies

Joe Rivera

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Braves' Ronald Acuña put on an absolute show on Sunday night vs. the Phillies image

The hustle, the muscle — there aren't many things that Ronald Acuña Jr. doesn't do well.

The Braves may have lost to the Phillies 7-6 on Sunday night, but the Atlanta outfielder is playing out of his mind to start the 2021 MLB season.

First, Acuña dazzled fans in the first inning of the Braves-Phillies matchup, beating out a routine ground ball, exhibiting elite sprint speed to first base. 

There are many things about Acuña beating out the ground ball that make it impressive:

  • It was a hard-hit ball to Didi Gregorius, at just a hair under 109 mph;
  • Gregorius fielded the ball cleanly;
  • Gregorius made a strong throw over to first base.

Statcast defines "elite" sprint speed at 30 feet per second, meaning Acuña got to first in just under three seconds. Essentially, blink, and you'll miss it.

Acuña wasn't done for the night, later launching an absolute bomb of a home run to deep center field — which had the same exit velocity as the grounder that he hit to shortstop.

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It's early, but the Braves' outfielder is reminding everyone just who the hell he is. A one-time consensus top-three prospect in baseball, some critics try to disrespect Acuña for his "lack of hustle" and other such nonsense. 

It's way, way early, but Acuña is on the warpath in 2021, coming off a solid 2020 in which teammate Freddie Freeman won NL MVP. 

If Acuña keeps this up, don't be surprised if the Braves have back to back MVPs. 

Joe Rivera

Joe Rivera Photo

Joe Rivera is in his seventh year with The Sporting News, handling NFL, MLB and some things pro wrestling. A proud-ish Rutgers University graduate, Rivera combines a new-school flair with an old-school soul. He loves dingers, wrestling, comic books, movies, music and really bad puns. He is also a card-carrying BBWAA member and teaches Multimedia Sports Reporting at his alma mater.

You can find him and tweet him @JoeRiveraSN, if you're into that sort of thing.