Injury to MVP: The Ronald Acuña Story

On July 10, 2021, tragedy struck; as Atlanta Braves outfielder and MVP-front runner Ronald Acuña Jr landed awkwardly while trying to make an acrobatic catch in front of the right field wall against the Miami Marlins. As he writhed in pain and tears, it was reported that Acuña suffered a torn ACL and would be out for the remainder of the season.

In late April of the 2022 season, Acuña made his anticipated return to baseball with hopes of continuing his MVP-like season from ’21. Instead, Acuña seemed to be a shell of his former self, putting up his worst home run and RBI totals since 2020, a shortened 60-game season, and by far his worst triple-slash line (batting average, on-base-percentage, and slugging) of his career.

With his disappointing ’22 campaign, a bunch of people doubted Acuña going into the 2023 season.  Some people remained hopeful, however, as they thought that with a whole offseason of training instead of rehabbing, Acuña could return to stardom and be a top 20 to 30 player in the league. However, even the most hopeful fan couldn’t have imagined what he did this year.

In 159 games, Ronald Acuña Jr hit an astounding 41 home runs and drove in 106 RBIs. His triple-slash line was a ridiculous .337/.416/.596, and he finished with an OPS of 1.012. Amongst everybody in the National League, Acuña was atop of all players in hits, runs scored, on-base percentage, stolen bases, total bases, OPS, OPS+ (a more advanced OPS), and offensive WAR (wins above replacement). He was also second in both batting average and slugging, fourth in home runs, and sixth in RBIs.

Acuña’s season wasn’t just dominant relative to his peers; it was dominant relative to MLB history. One way Acuña was historically elite was through his run-scoring.

In 2023, Acuña scored 149 runs, a total that hadn’t been earned since Jeff Bagwell in 2000 and hasn’t been topped since Ted Williams in 1949. His historic run-scoring was also combined with a historic ability to drive in runs. Out of all lead-off hitters in MLB history, Acuna’s 106 RBIs ranked him second all-time in a single season, trailing only Mookie Betts with 107 (also done in 2023).

However, Acuña’s greatest historical feat was his home runs and stolen bases. MLB’s 40-40 club (40 home runs, 40 stolen bases) contains a select-few group of players in MLB history, who, for a season, put up numbers that represent the pinnacle of elite speed and power. In 2023, along with his 41 homers, Acuña stole a whopping 73 bases. This made him the fifth player ever to be etched in the 40-40 club, and he became the only member in the 30-60, 40-50, 40-60, and 40-70 clubs. For this, and his season in totality, Acuña was named an all-star, an all-MLB first-team selection, a Hank Aaron Award winner (given to the best hitter in each league), and the ninth unanimous MVP winner in National League history.

While a lot of people were astonished by Acuña’s season, very few were as excited as DeMatha senior Kevin Neal. Being a lifelong Braves fan, Neal watched the majority of their games this year and saw Acuña shine night-in and night-out. Because of this, the Stagline decided to exclusively interview him on Acuña’s season.

Acuña’s 2023 campaign was impactful to a lot of people. When asked how he felt about Acuña’s season, Neal stated that it was “super-inspiring” because he overcame both a “gruesome ACL tear” and a “mediocre [2022] season” to come “full circle” and recapture his MVP form. Neal also expresses a sense of pride in Acuña’s season because he “believed in [Acuña] when a lot of people didn’t.” Contrary to popular belief, Neal proclaimed before the 2023 season that Acuña would finish at least top 3 in the National League MVP voting. At the end of the season, Acuña accomplished just that; making Neal’s previous ‘hot take’ a gargantuan success.

Acuña did many impressive things this season. However, the thing that impressed Neal the most was Acuña’s ability to “get his power back.” Coming off his injury in 2022, Neal insinuated that Acuña couldn’t “get his legs into his swing” as he’d done in ’21, causing his power to diminish. In ’23, however, Neal stated that Acuña “got his legs back” and he marveled at Acuña’s return to the top of the NL in both homers and slugging percentage.

Another thing that impressed Neal was Acuña’s oppo-centric approach, stating that Acuna “looked to hit more line drives between 1st and 2nd base.” What caused Acuña to do this was his swing, which consisted of his barrel being short and direct to the hitting zone, and his arms extending to create length and drive the ball to the opposite field. According to Neal, Acuña’s approach was a “growth to his game,” and he was impressed that he added it so fluently.

Acuña’s 2023 season featured a lot of great moments. However his best moment, according to Neal, was “his chase to the 40-40 club.” With one month left in the season, Acuña had 30 and 62 and was aiming for the 40-40 club. Acuña also had a heated MVP race with Mookie Betts, and was trying to capture his first MVP trophy.

With all this in mind, Acuña hit 11 homers – the most for him in any month this season – and stole 11 more bases in September, cementing himself into the 40-40 club and becoming the first person to make the 40-70 club. This monster ending also drastically changed the MVP conversation, as Acuña went from being in a contentious race to winning unanimously. When Neal watched Acuña hit homer-after-homer in September, he stated that that was “Acuña at his best.”

Coming back from a horrendous injury, Acuña put forth a bunch of resilience, determination, and skill to produce one of the greatest offensive seasons the league has ever seen. And with him just celebrating his 25th birthday in December, this season could be a precursor to a year even more historic.