Almost everything I have written about the Atlanta Braves 2023 season so far has been positive. I heaped praise on Austin Riley for beating the cover off of a baseball in St. Louis with his 473 foot homerun, I have marveled at Spencer Strider for his unhittable stuff, and given the team props for their excellent defense.
I have not given Harris II and Acuña Jr their due as much as they deserve.
This is not a ‘week one overreaction’ post, this is highlighting the effort, athleticism and skill that these two have shown through six games of ’23.
Harris II headlines Braves elite defense
Two days after the Braves announced that they will retire Andruw Jones’ number 25 and honor him on September 9 of this year, Harris II paid homage to one of the greatest centerfielders of all time.
Oh, he didn’t say anything. He just showed it.
Harris has already made his share of highlight reel plays in centerfield, but this may take the cake. He robbed Paul Goldschmidt of a two-run homerun to preserve a 5-1 Atlanta lead (and Colin McHugh’s ERA).
In baseball, preventing a run from being scored is just as good as driving a run in. Harris hasn’t found his stroke yet in 2023, but as they say, defense never slumps. He deserves plenty of credit for the Braves’ hot start, and if he starts performing at the plate as he did in 2022, the team will be that much better. Even if he keeps on as he is now at the plate, he makes tough plays look easy at a premium defensive position.
The emotion Harris II showed after making such a play in April tells you where this team is at. They don’t want to have to play catch up again this year.
Harris II’s defense is elite. But he is not the only show the Braves have patrolling the vast green of the baseball field.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is the NL’s premiere player
Ronald Acuña Jr has been playing like someone who had the thing he loves to do most in the world taken away from him for nearly two years. Which, of course, is exactly the situation Acuña Jr is in.
He suffered a torn ACL midway through the Braves 2021 season, and was not himself after his return in 2022. His numbers, while still well above league average, were a far cry from the performance that we saw in 2019 as the closest player to achieve a 40-40 season since 2006.
He’s back. He’s hitting dingers, he’s throwing out runners at home and he’s dominating the basepaths better than anyone else in MLB.
This isn’t just talking about steals, of which he has two through six games (that would be more than 40 steals over a full season, just saying). This is talking about why speed really does kill.
In the first inning of yesterday’s game, he lead off the game with a groundout to short. Scratch that, he outran the throw.
Possibly the most routine play in all of baseball is anything but when Acuña Jr turns on the jets.
He then scored from first base on a hit from Matt Olson that was cut off 50 feet in front of the outfield wall. The throw wasn’t close, either. Ronald was getting back to his feet after sliding into home before the catcher even started to apply a tag. See for yourself.
The list of players who can do that is very, very short. The list of players who can do that and also hit 40 homeruns in a season isn’t a list. It simply reads, “Ronald Acuña Jr.”
Acuña Jr resides in a class of player whose value cannot be quantified. I’d argue that only Shohei Ohtani of the LA Angels has that amount of impact on his team’s chances of victory every night as the best two-way player since Babe Ruth.
So, yeah, I’m arguing that Ronald Acuña Jr is as capable of carrying a team to an equal level as the man who is simultaneously one of the league’s best pitchers and hitters.
Lucky for me, Acuña Jr does most of the arguing with his play, making it that much easier for me.
Weeduncs.com 
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