Ronald Acuna's Lack of Hustle Has His Braves Teammates Really Ticked Off
Ronald Acuna is one of the most exciting young players in baseball and he showed that during Game 1 of the National League Division Series. Acuna was incredible, but managed to tick off his Atlanta Braves teammates while also displaying his prodigious talent.
The Braves lost to to the St. Louis Cardinals 7-6 Thursday night, but Acuna went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBI. He also made an egregious mistake by not running out of the box on a long fly ball and wound up with a single.
Check it out:
Ronald Acuña Jr. gets caught watching the ball again. pic.twitter.com/nuXK6J9e5D
— handlit33 (@handlit33) October 3, 2019
After the game Acuna's teammates were not happy with him and they were vocal about it. A collection of their responses are below.
Freddie Freeman on Ronald Acuna not hustling out of the box...
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) October 4, 2019
“You have that conversation once.. it’s kind of like beating a dead horse” pic.twitter.com/cx9pgPpPLL
Freeman on Acuña not running out of box: “It is frustrating.... That can’t happen in the postseason. It can’t happen in the regular season.... Unfortunately tonight it did.”
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) October 4, 2019
Said you have that conversation once, which they did, and after that it’s beating a dead horse.
Snitker just made clear in the post game press conference that he would have pulled Acuna out of the game if he was not shorthanded in a playoff game and had no choice.
— steakshapiro (@steakshapiro) October 4, 2019
He had to control himself when asked the question about Acuna not hustling out of the box and not explode.
Teammates made it clear that what happened with Acuña was unacceptable.
— Gabe Burns (@GabeBurnsAJC) October 4, 2019
It’s become a big story, but the bigger story is that the remade bullpen let them down when they needed it most. Those last two innings were horrific.
First time I've heard Albies and McCann criticize teammate's actions like they did tonight w/ Acuña. Everyone asked on the record basically said, that can't happen. He knows it. Ozzie said they could've scored that inning. McCann said in the playoffs, 90 feet can mean everything.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) October 4, 2019
So yeah, the Braves aren't happy with their young phenom. It's October man, you have to hustle out of the box. A trot like that in the middle of June can be excused, but not when the season is on the line late in the year. Acuna is only 21 but he should know better by now.