Last week, the Atlanta Braves found themselves in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Jarred Kelenic inexplicably did not hustle on a ball that did not result in a home run. Brian Snitker inexplicably did not pull him from the game after making that brutal mistake, despite doing so with Ronald Acuña Jr. in the past. Acuña inexplicably made the decision to post a since-deleted tweet in frustration, saying that Snitker would've pulled him from the game had he not hustled.
This drama has finally subsided, which is good news for the red-hot Braves, but that doesn't mean Acuña forgot what Snitker did. He knows that there, for whatever reason, was a double standard in play. Given that, he can only applaud what Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy did on Saturday.
Murphy decided to pull two younger players, Sal Frelick and Caleb Durbin, for sloppy play. Frelick missed a cutoff man, and Durbin was picked off. Both of those plays cost Milwaukee runs in what turned out to be a one-run loss.
Pat Murphy confirmed his benching of Sal Frelick was for missing the cutoff man in the fourth. Caleb Durbin's in the fifth was for being picked off.
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) April 26, 2025
"These are young players, and they've got to know there's consequences for not playing right, or playing playing sloppy," he said.
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Ronald Acuña Jr. can only hope Brian Snitker takes notes from Pat Murphy
We can argue whether Murphy is justified when it comes to pulling players for playing sloppily or making a mental mistake, but the fact that he was consistent with it on Saturday is what will open Acuña's eyes. It didn't matter what the mistake was, and it didn't matter who the player was. Frelick, in particular, had a 21-game on-base streak in progress! What did matter was that an inexcusable mistake was made in Murphy's eyes, and a message had to be sent. The fact that even Frelick could get pulled from a game will likely result in the entire team playing with more focus and not making mental errors.
Acuña's issue with what Snitker did wasn't that he was pulled from games for not hustling. Acuña now (hopefully) knows how important it is to hustle out of the box even when you think you've just hit a home run. His issue has everything to do with Snitker pulling him for doing something that Kelenic did and never got punished for.
All Acuña wanted to see was consistency, and he did not see that from Snitker at all with the Kelenic situation. With Murphy, however, it doesn't appear to matter who you are - if you make a mistake he deems inexcusable, you're going to get pulled as a result.
Again, whether you think Murphy should be pulling players from games or not, his consistency must be applauded. Every one of the 26 players on the roster is equal, and nobody will get away with not playing the right way without facing the music.