Braves might have waited too long to call up Ronald Acuna
Ronald Acuna is slated to make his Major League debut this week, but the Braves are doing it all at the wrong time.
If you’re an Atlanta Braves fan anxious about the debut of Ronald Acuna, this week is the one to buckle up for. The team is reportedly adding their top prospect to the big league roster, which is good in theory but might not be the right move.
The right time for the Atlanta Braves to call-up top prospect Ronald Acuna was after he torched the competition in Spring Training. Instead, the club are choosing to promote him after a really weak start to his AAA season.
Expect the 20-year-old outfielder to go right into the club’s starting lineup (another potential pitfall). He has superstar talent and the Braves certainly could use it. They’re off to a kinda-better-than-expected 12-10 start to the season but that’s only good for third in the NL East at the moment.
Frankly, Acuna should have been with the club from the beginning of the season. He was an absolute monster during Spring Training, and the hype was high for him. The talented outfielder obliterated the competition by racking up a batting average of .432 in 16 appearances. The only reason he didn’t break camp with the big club was that Atlanta wanted to delay the start of his Free Agency clock. By keeping him in the minors this long, they’ve delayed his arbitration for an additional season.
It’s a move the Chicago Cubs pulled when calling up Kris Bryant a few years ago, one that allows the team to have more club control over their star for a longer period of time.
Leaving Acuna down in AAA comes with serious potential costs though. Atlanta has possbly stunted his big league growth, as Acuna’s sporting a very poor stat line of .232, 1 HR and 2 RBIs in his 69 at-bats for AAA Gwinnett. The flip side to that is Acuna clearly wasn’t ready for the Majors if he is struggling against minor league talent.
Optimistic Braves fans will tell you that Acuna was just bored and/or disappointed to be sent down to the minors after dominating in the Spring. That’s certainly a possibility, but it could be something more serious.
It’s very possible Acuna lost a great deal of confidence after being sent back down to the minors. Sending down a highly touted prospect putting up great numbers in Spring Training has to be confusing for a player of Acuna’s talent level. Messing with a 20-year-old’s head rarely leads to positive outcomes.
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The Atlanta Braves can take comfort in the fact that they’ll keep Acuna under team control for an extra year by letting him languish in the minors. You have to wonder whether or not it was worth the risk of stunting his development by damaging his confidence.