For those who think Ronald Acuña Jr. is still not the front-runner for the National League MVP, we offer Monday night as Exhibit No. 1,629.
Acuña went 4-for-5 with a double and a home run and a career-high tying five RBIs in the Braves’ 14-4 win over the Rockies. Oh, and he had two more stolen bases to bring his season total to 61. Dee Gordon was the last player to have at least 60 stolen bases in a season, and that was exactly 60, in 2017. Do we need to mention that the Braves have 32 more games to play in the regular season?
Now, let’s get back to the home runs.
Acuña brought his season total to 29 homers. No player, we repeat, no player in major league history has ever had more than 25 home runs and 60 stolen bases in a season. The players with at least 60 stolen bases and at least 25 home runs were Joe Morgan, Rickey Henderson and Eric Davis. None of them had as many as 29 home runs. Did we mention there are still 32 more games in the regular season?
A final update: Acuña is third in average (.335), first in OBP (.418) fifth in slugging (.572), fourth in OPS (1.072), second in hits (175), first in runs (119) and first, by 10, in stolen bases (61) in all of MLB.
We appreciate the other players making a case for the MVP, but we rest ours.
About the Author
