WASHINGTON — The headlines this weekend will read “Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. has joined the 40-40 club,” and technically that is true. With his leadoff homer off Nationals starter Patrick Corbin on Friday night, Acuña became just the fifth player in baseball history to hit 40 home runs and have 40 steals in a single season.
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But Acuña isn’t just a member of the 40-40 club. He’s in the 40-50 club. And the 40-60 club. The 25-year-old is just two steals shy of the — almost unfathomable — 40-70 club.
Membership in those other clubs isn’t merely elite. They didn’t exist before this season.
That’s right, baseball is well over 140 years old, and comparing Acuña to Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Jose Canseco and Barry Bonds — the other four 40-40 guys — isn’t enough. With all due respect to those players, Acuña is having a season that has no comparison and not nearly enough national attention.
We should be talking about Acuña so much we should be sick of talking about him. And then we should talk about him some more.
“It’s the coolest thing and the most productive thing I’ve been a part of,” said Braves third-base coach Ron Washington, who has been in the game for more than 50 years. “The guy is just taking over baseball games. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve seen a guy that takes over baseball games. And he’s been doing it almost every night.”
Ronald Acuna Jr just did it. He's in the 40-40 club. It came off Patrick Corbin on a 3-2 pitch to start the game.
Acuna is just the 5th player in MLB history to hit 40-40.
— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) September 22, 2023
He’s not just chasing records like New York Yankees star Aaron Judge did, to considerably more fanfare, last season in setting the American League mark in homers. Acuña — tops in baseball in hits, runs, stolen bases, on-base percentage, multihit games, hard-hit balls and total bases — is a living, breathing record of his own, a tantalizing blend of power, speed and average. (His .337 batting average trails only Miami’s Luis Arraez.)
Of the previous four members of the 40-40 club, Rodriguez had the most steals, 46, in 1998. Acuña had 50 by the end of July. None of those other four members reached 40-40 again. Acuña fell just three steals shy in 2019 and, health permitting, has a chance to hit those numbers again. As Washington pointed out, Acuña is young enough to improve and mature enough to put in the work to erase any inefficiency in his game.
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“There’s been a lot of times this year where he just missed a homer or missed a few hits, hit maybe 110-plus (mph off the bat),” said teammate Michael Harris II, who also believes Acuña still has room to get better. “He’s phenomenal. He’s not like any other player I’ve ever seen before.”
In a sport that loves historical context and comparisons, there isn’t a good one for Acuña, who entered Friday on pace for 148 runs scored and 72 stolen bases (the latter would tie a Braves record). The next closest player is Freddie Freeman, who is projected to score 133 runs with 22 stolen bases. The only other player on pace for more than 55 steals is Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz, who is on pace to score 47 runs and hit four homers.
Should Acuña hit those numbers, only one other player has scored 148 runs and stolen 72 or more bases in the modern (post-1900) era: Hall of Famer Ty Cobb in 1911. Still, it’s not a perfect comparison: Cobb hit only eight homers that season.
Naysayers will point to the new rules — which include bigger bases and a limit on pitcher disengagements — as creating the bulk of Acuña’s 68 steals, but only six players entered Friday with more than 40 stolen bases. Ruiz is the only other player above 60. Acuña stole 44 bases across three levels in the minors in 2017 and 37 in ’19 before injuries limited him the following two 162-game seasons.
“He couldn’t do what he wanted to do with his knee last year,” Washington said. “The new rules have nothing to do with his base stealing. Eric Young has him in there studying the pitcher. He’s not just playing right now, he’s studying. That’s why his game has gone where it is.”
For years, Acuña was lumped in with a group that includes San Diego Padres sluggers Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis. Soto in particular — a friend and roughly a year younger — proved to be the subject of great debate: Which young superstar would you build a team around?
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While Soto has played well, Acuña has catapulted to another level entirely, posting a 7.8 bWAR to Soto’s 4.9.
Braves manager Brian Snitker tells family and friends to stay in their seats, don’t go get a beer because they might miss something dazzling from Acuña, a risk on both sides of the ball. And he’s right.
“It’s pretty incredible so many players in the big leagues and my name is alone,” Acuña said through an interpreter. “But I’m hoping and sure someone will break that (40-60) record, too.”
Maybe. Those in the Braves clubhouse were less sure there will be another player of Acuña’s stature.
“He may be blazing trails,” Snitker said, “that no one will go to again.”
(Photo: Amber Searls / USA Today)
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