Braves: Ronald Acuña unleashes cannon arm to gun down Bryce Harper

Don’t run on Ronald Acuña. That’s a lesson Bryce Harper learned the hard way on Saturday afternoon.

While Harper and Acuña are in the same division, it’s been a long layoff in a pandemic-laden offseason, so perhaps he needed a reminder to ensure he doesn’t make this same mistake in the future. Acuña has an elite arm to use when necessary in right field, and Harper rediscovered that nifty tool the hard way.

Harper laced a liner into right field, assuming he could stretch a single into a double. That assumption turned into a fools’ errand when Harper was gunned out by Acuña, who threw a sweet one-hopper to shortstop Dansby Swanson.

The Braves and Phillies will be fighting it out all summer in the NL East

Despite winning the division three years running, the Braves were projected by PECOTA to finish third this season, behind the New York Mets and Washington Nationals. Meanwhile, the Phillies were also projected to under-achieve despite re-signing J.T. Realmuto this offseason and adding a number of proven relievers to their shoddy bullpen.

Both of these teams should compete in what’s expected to be the most heated division in all of baseball. While the Mets and Nationals have yet to start their seasons due to COVID-19 concerns, expect it to be an absolute war for the NL East this summer into fall.