Ronald Acuña Jr. was hardly the most heralded player in the Atlanta Braves’ 2014 international signing class. Five players received larger bonuses than the $100,000 the Braves gave Acuña as a 16-year-old. Yet, as he took batting practice shortly after joining the organization in 2014, Acuña offered a glimpse of what was to come.One of the stunned onlookers, Ozzie Albies, still remembers his disbelief as he watched a player who was one year younger than him launch baseballs into the stratosphere.“I was like, ‘Wow, imagine just seeing that in the game against pitchers. This is going to be insane,’” Albies said recently of that long-ago batting practice. “He started doing it in the games. So since then, I was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s going to be special for sure.’”Just how special? Since then, Acuña has been named an All-Star five times and won an MVP award. Last season, he was the National League’s comeback player of the year. On Wednesday at Nationals Park, he added yet another honor, becoming the 10th Braves player in the franchise’s long history to hit 200 home runs.Acuña hasn’t looked much like himself at the plate this year, but the moment nevertheless stood out.“I know how much I’ve kept working to be here,” Acuña told reporters after the Braves’ 9-0 win over the Washington Nationals.“Any time you’re first, or even top 50 on any list in this game, it’s amazing when you think about the history of this game and the people who have played it,” said manager Walt Weiss, whose team increased its division lead to four games heading into a four-game series against the second-place Philadelphia Phillies. “We know Ronald’s talent. It’s freakish talent. So he’s capable of doing unbelievable things.”
Ronald Acuña’s 200th career homer is more than a milestone. It’s proof of his resilience
Acuña hasn’t looked much like himself at the plate this year, but the moment nevertheless stood out.










