Ronald Acuña Jr. picks up where Braves left off with first-pitch dinger (Video)

Ronald Acuña Jr. pulverizes the first pitch he sees off more lousy Pittsburgh Pirates pitching.

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. needed to see one pitch from Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller to take an early 1-0 lead.

Even though he has to put three grandchildren through college, maybe Braves manager Brian Snitker should have let Acuña bat left-handed on Friday night. Baseball is just too easy for the Atlanta superstar right now. That was his 15th home run of the season. Though he will need to pick it up on the base path, Acuña should have no problem going 30-30 this year if he wants to.

There was no doubt about Acuña’s latest big fly getting over the Truist Park fence in a hurry.

Braves: Ronald Acuña Jr. continues to pound pitiful Pittsburgh Pirates pitching

While Atlanta is far from a perfect team at this point in the season, the offense has come alive in May and the starting rotation has improved. The team continues to be sound defensively and will occasionally put pressure on the opposition from the base path. However, as long as the bullpen resembles a leaky faucet, Atlanta will not be capable of capturing its first NL pennant since 1999.

The good news for the Braves is they have the reigning NL MVP in Freddie Freeman and this year’s very early frontrunner in Acuña. While giving an MVP award to the best player on a sub-.500 team does not sit well in most sports, baseball has set the precedent of that with one Mike Trout MVP award after another. As the Braves look to solve their bullpen woes, sit back and enjoy this homer.

It is Acuna’s baseball world these days, and we are simply lucky enough to be living in it with him.