Slam shows Acuña's ready for Classic; will it launch another MVP campaign?

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Before Ronald Acuña Jr. left Braves camp to join Team Venezuela for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, it made sense to ask him if participating in this same event three years ago influenced the historic success he had during his 2023 National League MVP season.

“I think it helped a lot,” Acuña said. “There’s good hitting and good pitching and a lot of superstars playing. The last World Baseball Classic, I didn’t have a good Baseball Classic, but there’s a new Baseball Classic this year. So I’m excited."

Acuña's excitement grew as he stole a pair of bases in the first inning and hit a grand slam during an 11-run third inning in the Braves' 15-8 win over the Red Sox on Friday afternoon at CoolToday Park.

This was the Braves right fielder's final Grapefruit League game before joining his Team Venezuela teammates this weekend. He has given his Atlanta teammates reason to look forward to what he might do another year removed from his second major knee surgery since July 2021.

"It's more back to normal, right?" Braves ace Chris Sale said. "Last year, he's coming off a knee surgery and you're just hoping for the best, right? Now, obviously it looks like it's behind him. Watching balls leave the yard, watching him run the bases, stealing bags. I mean, that's who he is, that's what he does. I'm excited to see that play out throughout the year."

Acuña might not have shined while going 4-for-18 with a double during the ’23 WBC. But his preparation for the event and the opportunity to face high-level competition in intense settings in March seemed to jump-start a season during which he became the only player to ever hit 40-plus homers and steal 70-plus bases.

“I like position players playing in the WBC,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “I just think, ‘What's going to get them more ready than that environment?’ I think it accelerates that process of getting ready for the season.”

While his Braves teammates were going through their normal Spring Training preparations three years ago, Acuña experienced the thrill of Venezuela beating the Dominican Republic in front of 35,890 incredibly rowdy fans in Miami. A similar-sized crowd witnessed a win over Puerto Rico the next day and then there was the thrill of nearly beating Team USA in front of another packed house in the quarterfinals.

“Every time we put on the jersey that says Venezuela, I’m so proud,” Acuña said. “I want to do something special for my country, and I want to do something special with my teammates. I want to make everybody proud.”

Acuña, Ozzie Albies, Jurickson Profar, Chadwick Tromp and Nacho Alvarez Jr. are the five position players who will leave Braves camp this week to join their respective WBC teams. Alvarez will play for Team Mexico. Profar, Albies and Tromp will play for The Netherlands, who will have Hall of Famer Andruw Jones as its manager.

The Netherlands will play Venezuela to open Pool D play in Miami on March 6 at noon ET (Tubi and MLB.TV). The Dominican Republic, Israel and Nicaragua are the other teams that will compete in this pool’s round-robin play.

“I think having Ozzie and Profar and Trumpy in the first game is going to help him get better and be ready,” Venezuelan native and longtime Braves coach Eddie Perez said. “They talk about it every day. You hear them saying, ‘We're going to beat you’ and all of that. It’s fun to listen to them. This motivates [Acuña] to get ready and do better. It will help him in the WBC and the regular season.”

Acuña exited his first WBC experience three years ago and looked like a man on a mission. He hit .337 with 41 homers, 73 stolen bases and a 1.012 OPS. Even if you remove the stolen base variable, his season was incredibly unique.

• An AL/NL player has hit 40-plus homers with a .335 batting average or better 18 times during the Divisional Era (since 1969). Barry Bonds accounted for four of these instances, and a Colorado Rockie has benefited from Coors Field’s offense-friendly environment to account for five other occasions.

Acuña, Carlos Delgado (2000), Albert Pujols (2003), Vladimir Guerrero (2000), Mike Piazza (1997), Miguel Cabrera (2013), Frank Thomas (1996), Derrek Lee (2005) and Mo Vaughn (1998) are the only other players in this group. Acuña, Guerrero and Pujols are the only players to do this at 25 or younger.

• Acuña’s 149 runs scored ranks second in the Divisional Era, trailing only Jeff Bagwell’s 152 in 2000.

• Acuña’s 217 hits were the second most recorded during an 80-plus extra-base-hit season going back to 1969. Don Mattingly had 238 hits and 86 of the extra-base variety in 1986.

Acuña and the Braves are hoping this year’s WBC experience leads to another incredible summer. But before aiming to bring Atlanta another World Series championship, the 28-year-old outfielder is focused on helping Venezuela claim a WBC title.

“We were born for this,” Acuña said. “The Dominican has a really good team, and so does the USA. But we have a really good team. So we’ll play the game the right way and we’ll see what happens out there.”