Rob
Manfred should send Ronald Acuna Jr. a gift basket. A really nice one, too.
It’s the least the MLB Commissioner can do after what Acuna has done for the game Manfred presides over.
Not that any sympathy is warranted, but Major League Baseball’s head has had a tough go of it. Several foot-in-mouth comments come to mind. Figuring out a once-ina-lifetime pandemic got the best of our world’s most sharp scientists and politicians, so safe to say a sports commissioner wasn’t going to get it 100 percent right. Oh, and there was a collective bargaining dispute against maybe the world’s strongest labor union.
Manfred, and his sport, needed a win.
2018 Topps Heritage High Numbers #580 RC
And that win was Acuna
Baseball had an action problem. It was too stationary. Analytics, brilliant as they are, did not make for a visibly-appealing game. So, Manfred shook things up. Out were shifts and limitless pickoff attempts and timeouts. In was the pitch clock and bigger bases.
And Acuna took off.
“I’ve always said you better not go get a drink, go to the bathroom or something when he’s around, because you might miss something that you have never seen before,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s a special player and it’s fun to have him on our team and be able to watch him every day.”
The Atlanta Braves superstar finished the 2023 season hitting .337 with 41 home runs, 106 RBI and 73 stolen bases. He led the senior circuit in hits, runs, OBP, OPS and total bases.