Braves Briefing: Ronald Acuña's pursuit of a 40/40 season
The Atlanta Braves are having a special season and Ronald Acuña is a big reason why it's all coming into place.
He leads all odds in NL MVP betting and his stats continue to blow us away the deeper we get into the 2023 MLB season.
Last night, he was one of three Atlanta standouts to be named starter in the 2023 All-Star game joined Sean Murphy and Orlando Arcia.
MLB.com put out a story "7 reasons this has already been a season for the ages" and of course Acuña was one of the reasons.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is chasing 40/40
Acuña is back to being fully healthy again, which means he's fully back to reminding us why he was as much the Next Big Thing as anyone when he hit the big leagues in 2018, the same season Ohtani showed up in Anaheim. The Braves speedster has 19 home runs, 51 RBIs and a .331 batting average through 80 games. He is the best player on what looks like the best team, at least so far: He has stolen 36 bases, scored 71 runs and has an on-base percentage of .408.
NL East Standings
| Teams | Record | GB | Action Today |
|---|---|---|---|
Atlanta | 53-27 | - | Hosts Miami |
Miami | 48-34 | 6.0 | @ Atlanta |
Philadelphia | 43-37 | 10.0 | Hosts Washington |
NYM | 36-45 | 17.5 | Hosts SF |
Washington | 32-48 | 21.0 | @ Philadelphia |
We wrote it
Our own Sam Peebles took a deep dive into the Braves offense. Spoiler: it's pretty good. Here's a part of the breakdown.
If we look at OPS+ which shows a player’s adjusted OPS where 100 is league average, every single starter has an OPS+ league average or better. This includes platoon members. The Braves have twelve hitters with an OPS+ of 100 or higher.
Even the 2003 Braves can’t claim this. Only six of the starters had on OPS+ 100 or higher and nine hitters total if you include players like Jesse Garcia who only played in thirteen games.
The Braves lead all of MLB in OPS at .827. The second closest team is the Rays at .801. That is a difference of .026 points. To put that gap in perspective, a gap of .026 would drop a team from 2nd place down to 5th.
They are 3rd in runs created plus (wRC+), in MLB at 121. That is 21.0 percent better than league average. To put that in perspective, the second highest team wRC+ in the NL is 109, which is held by the Dodgers. That is a difference of 12.0 percentage points. If you were to take 12.0 percentage points away from the Dodgers, they would drop all the way down to 21st in MLB. Needless to say, the gap is massive.
Three Bold Predictions
How to watch the Atlanta Braves vs the Miami Marlins on Friday night
First pitch for the series is at 7:20 ET. The game broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports South and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.
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