Even with a month and a half of injury recon, Ronald Acuna Jr. was still the top vote getter for the All Star Game voting. Just on presence alone, people. Yes, he's been hitting well this year, but I think people just wanted to see Acuna in the ASG because they couldn't imagine him not being there, especially after the end of last season. Even as Acuna missed some games in the leadup to the end of voting, the votes still came in.
And that says all you need to know about Ronald Acuna Jr. You can give everyone else a head start and he'll still be there, playing better than you.
The thing is, his stats aren't even too immense this year. He's in the .270s, he has 8 homers, 22 RBIs and has sort of normal stats, but this is because he's only played 51 games and he's still doing some of the ramp up that people like Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Dansby Swanson have already done. At the same time...Acuna gets to be healthy in one of these stacked Braves teams. He gets to play alongside Eddie Rosario, Matt Olson and Guillermo Heredia, the latter of which helped replace him during the injury-prone 2021. Instead of waiting on the sideline, Acuna gets to help a team like this compete, and that's gotta be pretty cool, even if this team doesn't get as far as the last one
The thing is, the new elements are the ones that are intriguing me. Spencer Strider has come up BIG TIME, and has become a major starting weapon, with an amazing start the other day, and even with only 6 starts he leads the team in strikeouts. William Contreras has been a surprisingly great DH and is hitting just like his brother. Michael Harris II is a really fun contact hitter, and having seen him in Philly, I like what he adds to the team. There's elements that make this team really interesting, and competitive.
And then...there's still the Mets. The Mets still look good, the Mets have an incredible lineup, and they're only going to get stronger as more starters come back. The Braves have to figure out how to catch the momentum they caught last year, and how to outrun the Mets, whose ascent is looking pretty inevitable.
Coming Tonight: One of two former Mets who's really come into his own in Cleveland.
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