Throughout the offseason, Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos has been very conservative. Essentially the only major move that he made was adding outfielder Jurickson Profar.
Profar will be a great corner outfield addition for the Braves with Jarred Kelenic being a walking question mark as far as production goes and Ronald Acuna Jr. still sidelined while recovering from his second ACL tear.
We all know that Acuna, when healthy is one of the best players in all of Major League Baseball. Newest Braves player, Profar, would agree. In fact, Profar's praise for Acuna may be so high that it is delusional.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray's work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB offseason.
Jurickson Profar says Ronald Acuna Jr. is better than Juan Soto
The biggest splash made by any team this offseason was the New York Mets acquiring the biggest name on the free agent market, Juan Soto. Soto signed the richest contract not only in baseball history but in sports history. Soto's deal with the Mets is worth $765 million over the next 15 years.
There is most certainly a reason why the Mets were willing to give Soto this astronomical amount of money and long-term commitment. At just 26-years-old and in seven career seasons, Soto owns a .285 batting average to go along with 201 career long balls. In addition to being one of the best sluggers in the game, he is very patient. In fact, Soto has led the MLB in walks three times in his career. As good as he is, Jurickson Profar claims that Ronald Acuna Jr. is better.
Braves beat writer Mark Bowman shared Profar's thoughts on Acuna. According to Profar, his former teammate Fernando Tatis Jr., Ronald Acuna Jr. and Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani are in a league of their own. Profar did acknowledge that this is obviously when these players are fully healthy which seems to be Acuna's achilles heel recently.
One Mets page on X wasted no time trolling Profar for his comments pointing how the significant difference between Acuna and Soto's career fWAR. Both of these stars made their big league debut in 2018 so this is a very fair comparison.
fWAR since they both debuted in 2018:
— One Shining Mets ⭐️ (@oneshiningmets) February 21, 2025
Soto (36.3)
Acuña (28.3) https://t.co/J8yAm5jMJj
If Ronald Acuna Jr. could stay healthy, could he truly be as good as Juan Soto? Probably. But we can play the 'what if' game all day long and Profar has to know deep down that Soto is simply better than is teammate.