In Friday night’s game between the Atlanta Braves and the Colorado Rockies, the bottom of the first inning began innocently enough. Braves leadoff hitter Ronald Acuña Jr. worked the count for a six-pitch walk to start things off for Atlanta.
Ronald Acuña Jr. makes MLB history
The Braves outfielder joined an elite club Friday night, one where he is the only member
Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
Before you knew it, however, Acuña was standing on second base, having stolen his 30th base of the season.
And making some MLB history in the process.
With the steal, Acuña became just the first player in MLB history to notch 15 home runs and 30 steals in just the first 70 games of the season:
The previous mark was set by César Cedeño back in 1974, when he accomplished the feat in just 71 games.
Acuña’s new record is just one of his many impressive accomplishments this season. He ranks second in the majors with a batting average of .331, is seventh in on-base percentage with an OBP of .403, his slugging percentage of .576 is sixth in the majors, his OPS of .979 is behind only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, and his 30 steals are second in all of MLB.
From an advanced metrics standpoint, Acuña’s Wins Above Replacement of 3.8 is second in the majors, behind only Ohtani and Wander Franco of the Tampa Bay Rays.
But when you are the only person on a list like the one he created tonight, it certainly stands out.
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