Ronald Acuña Jr has the strongest outfield arm in all of baseball

Ronald Acuña Jr is the ultimate five-tool player

Yeah we're used to Ronald Acuña Jr making magic happen at the plate, and on the basepaths, but he's doing it in the outfield too. 

A perfect example of this happened in Thursday's game. You might have missed it, so here's a video: 

This is one of the greatest non-outs in the history of baseball.. 104.1-MPH THROW FROM ACUÑA, ON A LINE??? pic.twitter.com/TnpKpJHdHB

— Fuzzy (@fuzzyfromyt) June 23, 2023

"Greatest non-out in the history of baseball" seems dramatic, but he might be right. 

In the box score it's a sacrifice fly. Routine. 

In reality? Anything but. 

That sacrifice fly off the bat of Alex Bohm was hit 304 feet. You can see, Ronald catches it ten or twelve feet shy of the warning track. 

And the runner at third, JT Realmuto, is a catcher, yes, but he's got good speed. Not good speed "for a catcher", good speed - his 28.6 ft/s speed, as measured by Statcast, is in the 84th percentile in ALL of baseball. 

And Ronald's throw almost beat him to the plate. Flat-footed. No basket throw, no kitchen sink, just two steps and throw. On a line.

We all knew Ronald had a good arm, but how good?   

Thankfully, we can measure this now! 

Statcast has an "Arm Strength" leaderboard - to simplify the explanation here, they take the top 10% of each player's throws made from each position, to accurately weight how hard a fielder makes a throw when they're actually trying to get a runner out, instead of leisurely tossing a ball in. 

Ronald Acuña Jr has the highest overall arm strength in all of baseball, with an 90th percentile average of 96.6 mph. His max, from the above play, is 104.1. 

MLB Statcast

(For context, right field is typically where your best outfield arm will play, and the MLB average for right field is 91.1 mph. Only 38 players in all of baseball, across all defensive positions, average 90 mph or higher on their throws.)

This season, Ronald has six outfield assists, giving him twenty-seven for his career. It doesn't seem like a lot, no, but being known for having a big arm in right field discourages other teams from trying to advance runners on you. It's similar to how a "lockdown" cornerback in football just takes away a side of the field or an individual receiver, with the quarterback just choosing not to throw that direction. 

Ronald Acuña Jr's arm is SO good, opposing teams don't even TRY to run on him. 

Add it to the list of reasons why Ronald Acuña Jr is the best player in baseball, and (health permitting) deserves to be the 2023 MVP. 

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