On the eve of Opening Day, Ronald Acuña made some surprising comments about his relationship with Freddie Freeman while he was with the Braves. Now, he’s backtracking.
Ah, blaming the media. As someone on the peripheries of said sports media machine, I do understand we can be in the wrong on this debate quite often.
However, given Acuña made fairly unprompted comments via Instagram live about Freddie Freeman in an interview he agreed to do, this is not one of those situations.
The media has not overdramatized Acuña’s words, nor have we taken them out of context. We are quoting, with professional translation, what Acuña said.
Ronald Acuña Jr. spoke in the Braves clubhouse re: his Instagram live comments. He said his comments were exaggerated and blown out of proportion. Here are some highlights, w/his answers translated directly from Spanish pic.twitter.com/xIhUbAppv0
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) April 7, 2022
He will not miss Freddie Freeman. At all.
Ronald Acuña clears up Freddie Freeman comments
Acuña claimed he was specifically discussing his time as a rookie in 2018, when the two Braves stars didn’t necessarily see eye to eye. Winning cures all, and it’s likely Acuña and Freeman got along just fine when the two were playing well with a World Series-caliber baseball team.
But there is no way to backtrack out of this one. Acuña said what he said, and we have it on video and via translation.
If the Braves are lucky, this will not serve as a major distraction heading into the season. It’s why Acuña addressed it before Thursday night’s game.
The last thing the young Braves star wanted to do was take away from the 2021 Braves achievement, Freeman included.