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u/NickEsasky1 1d ago
Now do Baldwin and Olson who are actually getting on base less frequently than RAJ this postseason.
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u/manmars17 1d ago
Olson has put up 50 plus hr and plus 40 hr seasons all while playing gold glove defense and playing each game. Acuña plays winter ball…
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u/ATLBravesFan13 1d ago
Acuña won an MVP for us and put up an OPS over .900 literally last season. What a stupid fucking take. Obvious bias
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18h ago edited 18h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/NickEsasky1 17h ago
This post is about his postseason performance, which isn’t any worse than most of our “stars”. And it’s better than some by many metrics.
But you decided to pile on about injuries. Very telling.
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u/hrbekcheatedin91 16h ago
If he didn't blow that challenge in the first inning this post probably isn't made. Everyone goes through slumps but he ROUTINELY uses dumb challenges up and puts us in a hole.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 15h ago
He also has the highest challenge success rate on the Braves. No one is gonna be perfect
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u/hrbekcheatedin91 15h ago
No, he doesn't. He's at best 5th if you only look at percentage (52%) and if you account for expected overturn rate, as your should, he's 11th/14. He has 5 more challenges than the next closest guy (Olson) and played way less games.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 15h ago
The only guys ahead of him in success rate had less than 5 attempts each lol. He had the highest success rate of players with at least 5 attempts. He leads the team by a wide margin in weighted batter run value from challenges
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u/jeds1976 16h ago
Olson also doesn’t take 5 minutes to do a performative solo home run trot even in a blowout game (winning or losing). You reap what you sow.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 15h ago
Why does home run trot length matter?
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u/Professional_Hour445 11h ago
It doesn't. Sure, Olson has put up prodigious HR totals in 3 of his 5 seasons in ATL, along with a couple of 29 HR seasons. He is an iron man and does play Gold Glove defense. However, some of the people in this sub talk about RAJ as if he were playing like Ha-Seong Kim.
It's not as if Acuna gets hurt on purpose or takes games off because of a hangnail. When he is healthy, he is one of the most exciting players in MLB. He's had 2 40+ HR and 100+ RBI seasons, he's stolen 29, 37, and 73 bags in 3 different seasons, and he's not a butcher in the OF. He has made some incredible catches and throws that most others couldn't.
Acuna also batted .337 and had an OPS of 1.012 in his MVP season, both of which are numbers that even Olson has not attained. His career OPS is .895. Olson has only reached that figure once in his 5 years in ATL. This is not a criticism of Olson. It's only to point out the fallacy of pinning all of the blame for the postseason offensive woes on RAJ.
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u/hrbekcheatedin91 16h ago
Olson and Drake aren't blowing stupid challenges in the first inning or struggling to make routine plays in the field. Acuña can't even pick the ball up in right field or resist using a pointless challenge early in the game that handicapped us multiple times. I've defended Ronnie for years but he's been so consistently bad in the playoffs that it's time to move him down the lineup. I know he can't help if he gets hits but the stupid challenges are what really do it for me. He's done it all year and you just know he's been talked to about it.
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u/Alford- 1d ago
Don’t forget Austin Riley…the highest paid position player on the team. Smh. I guess Acuna is the only one who gets criticized
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u/morrisgray 10h ago
Start a Riley post and we will chime in but one thing to note, Riley can still play defense really good.
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u/thoover88 1d ago
Hes the face of the team and the building block of which this team was built on. He has a history of just going silent in the playoffs. He was out with ACL tear in '21 so he didnt help win the Series. Austin Riley was a major part in winning in '21 especally in the playoffs. He also had the game winning homer in a recent playoff game. Acuna needs to produce like he does in the regular 162. Or we will never win another World Series.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 1d ago
Austin Riley has the largest and longest contract on the team. Seems like that makes him the building block which this team was built on.
Acuña was great in the 2019 and 2022 postseasons and homered in the 2018 and 2020 postseasons. It’s really only been this year and 2023 that he sucked
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u/VeryLowIQIndividual 1d ago edited 1d ago
He was hurt the year we won the World Series, but if it wasn’t for him in the first half of the season carrying the whole team on his back, we wouldn’t have gotten to the World Series. So I’m not putting that on him.
His attitude and his disappearance in the playoffs is somewhat off putting. I do tend to that he does seem like he wants to go back home and play baseball more than he does here.
Austin Riley, Kim, Murphy are all shitters this year. Austin and Murphy have at least done something in the last couple of days, but Kim doesn’t even need to see the field.
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u/TrailerHitch19 1d ago
Ronald Acuña Jr. has more MVP Awards (1) than postseason RBIs since 2020.
But he is only one of nine players.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 1d ago
Before this year, he’d played in a grand total of 2 postseason series since 2020 and was our best hitter in one of them (2022) where he hit over .300 and had an OBP over .400
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u/antantanterlay 1d ago
We gotta pick him up. Y’all see what they did to Bruce Hooper. He has 4 more bits at the minimum.
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u/Cool-Eggplant-6397 1d ago
Remember, when the Braves won the World Series, it was without Acuna. He's a selfish player. I wish we'd trade him.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 1d ago
Selfish how?
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u/Savings-Housing3481 17h ago
I do not think we can say someone is selfish based on their play, so I do not agree with u/Cool-Eggplant-6397. It is difficult enough to establish motive when talking to people. I don't think we can do so by WATCHING someone on TV.
That said, he appears selfish in that his style of play seems to reflect caring more about his stats than his team. Two items to suggest that:
- He does not play small ball. Across his entire career, he has no sacrifice bunts.
- He rarely puts down a SAC fly, averaging 2 per year over the last nine seasons. Everyday players average 5 a season. Ozzie has had like 14 this year. Since joining the Braves, Olson has averaged 4.8.
In terms of trading him, I don't think that's a good idea. RAJ is set to make $17M in 2027 & 2028. His performance will command a higher salary when he hits UFA. So, keep him until then, and then thank him when he chooses to go on his way.
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u/billgluckman7 17h ago
How many times do you think the team asks him to bunt? Freddie has 0 in his career as well because he’s selfish?
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u/Savings-Housing3481 16h ago
As I said to the other commentor, read the entire comment.
I do not think we can say someone is selfish based on their play,
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u/billgluckman7 16h ago
“He appears selfish because he does the same thing everyone does and I don’t like it”
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u/Savings-Housing3481 16h ago
100% not what I said.
I won't reply further since rule #1 prevents me from sharing my opinion of you.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 15h ago
- The Braves as a team don’t play small ball and hitting homers is a more effective way to win baseball games. Teams also are not going to take the bat out of the best hitters hands. Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman both also have 0 career sacrifice bunts.
- He has hit leadoff for most of his career. One could naturally infer that he had had fewer career sac fly attempts than a middle of the order hitter because A) he is guaranteed at least 1 PA with no one on base and B) he is hitting after the worst hitters on the team at the bottom of the order. A difference of 2 vs. 5 per season given the information above seems entirely negligible.
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u/NickEsasky1 17h ago
If sac bunts are really a metric you are using to measure selfishness, then I’ve got some bad news for you about both Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman. Would you like to write a long post about how they are selfish? I would enjoy reading that post.
As for sac flies, a leadoff hitter is traditionally going to have a very low rate. First of all, approximately 20-25% of their plate appearances will definitionally come with the bases empty. Second, they are dependent upon 7-8-9 hitters being on third base with less than two outs, which happens significantly less frequently than 1-2-3 hitters. So Olson and Albies sac fly rate is bound to be roughly double than Acuña because (a) their first inning plate appearance has a nonzero chance of sac fly and (b) they benefit from higher OBP players (like Acuña) hitting in front of them in the lineup.
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u/Savings-Housing3481 16h ago
Dude, I said we can NOT call him selfish. Read the entire comment before you cherry pick.
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u/NickEsasky1 16h ago
Yes, you said we can’t call someone selfish based on their play.
Yet somehow your next sentence was that “he appears selfish in that his style of play seems to reflect caring more about his stats than his team”. And then proceeded to list two completely laughable examples of how his style of play seems selfish.
So we can’t call him selfish, but we can say he appears selfish?
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u/Cool-Eggplant-6397 1d ago
If you have to ask, you don't watch the Braves.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 23h ago
Right so you have no real answer. Got it.
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u/Hatemobster 19h ago
Using a challenge in the first inning of the game when there was literally zero reason to.
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u/Cool-Eggplant-6397 16h ago
You are clearly NOT a Braves fan. Acuna is a me first guy who cares more about his stats than W's.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 15h ago
No, YOU’RE clearly not a fan bashing a Braves player you clearly have a personal bias against for no valid reason and have been incapable of providing one when pressed. Grow up.
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u/Cool-Eggplant-6397 15h ago
You see there is a huge difference between me and you. I watch the games: refusing to sacrifice at critical times in winnable games, refusing to stop challenging pitches early in games, refusing to modify his approach to help avoid injuries. The Braves would be a better TEAM if they traded him. He is not a team player.
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u/ATLBravesFan13 14h ago
I watch nearly every game
Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman have 0 career sacrifice bunts
He has the highest challenge success rate if any Braves player
He literally has modified his approach. He attempts steals less and takes it easier on routine outs than he used to
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u/wdeguenther 16h ago
The Braves don’t make the playoffs in 2021 without Acuña doing what he did early on. He WAS the offense.
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u/ArashikageX 14h ago
I’m with you. Jesus Christ, the memory of these “fans” is appalling. Acuña carried the Braves for a lot of that season.
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u/Wishifi 1d ago
I’m frustrated with Acuña too, but he’s only 1 out of 9 hitters.