ATLANTA – Brian Snitker remembers being at the 2019 Home Run Derby in Cleveland, when a 21-year-old Ronald Acuña Jr. was competing for the first time. Someone asked the Braves manager if he thought his second-year rising star would be nervous.
“I said, ‘The last place on earth that that kid’s going to be nervous is on a baseball field,’” Snitker told Sporting News. “I mean, he’s in his element, right there. He’s performing.
“It’s been unbelievable to me what he’s done. He’s not overwhelmed by anything. He’s in his element between those white lines.”
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Acuña will be even more in his element the next two days, as he becomes the unofficial host of baseball’s midsummer showcase. He pulled out of Monday’s Home Run Derby due to a tender back, but will be starting in right field for the National League in Tuesday’s All-Star Game in what will be his fifth ASG appearance. And he will be doing it at the home of the Braves.
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There is a history of Braves icons having big moments when hosting All-Star Games. In 1972, Hank Aaron hit a two-run homer in the first ASG in Atlanta during a 6-3 National League victory. In 2000, Atlanta was the host for the second time ever at Turner Field, and Chipper Jones was 3-for-3 with a home run. Now, 25 years later, the stage is set for Acuña as Atlanta gets its third All-Star Game.
Has he done enough on his resume to remembered along the lines of Hank or Chipper? Not yet. But he’s got a good shot.
“Thirty years from now, when people talk about the Braves, it will no longer just be Hank and Chipper. It will be Hank, Chipper and Ronald,” said Mark Bowman, MLB.com’s Braves reporter since 2001 and author of The Franchise: A curated history of the Atlanta Braves. ”I think Chipper has said this, and Hank would have said it after seeing Ronald play for a few years — Ronald is the most talented player to ever wear a Braves uniform.
“To think about what he can do as a true five tool player, each of his tools are so far above average. Hank was great. Chipper was great. Ronald takes it to another level.”
Ronald Acuña Jr.’s iconic moments
Acuña, 27, has suffered two torn ACLs already in his young career. Between those injuries, however, he put together one of baseball’s greatest individual seasons, and capped it with the flair for the dramatic the great ones seem to have.
In 2023, he founded baseball’s first 40-home run, 70-steal club en route to being named National League Most Valuable Player. Prior to Acuña, there had never been a 40/50 season or a 40/60 season. He skipped right to 40/70.
The 70th steal came in the final week of the season with the Braves looking to clinch homefield advantage until the World Series. Trailing the Cubs 5-4 in the 10th, Acuña had an RBI single to tie the game, stole second and then scored the winning run on a base hit.
When he stole his 70th, the game was briefly stopped, and he took the bag out of the ground and waved it above his head. Truist Park roared its approval, then continued the celebration moments later with the walk-off win.
“Everything about that season was special,” Bowman told SN. “And that was the lasting moment.”
The All-Star Game represents another chance for Braves fans to celebrate the player they followed in the minors as a teenager, then watched grow into the superstar they had been promised. In his second postseason at-bat at home after winning Rookie of the Year as a 20-year-old in 2018, Acuña hit a grand slam against the Dodgers.
And in his return from his second ACL surgery in May, after missing nearly 12 months, Acuña immediately rewarded the Atlanta fans who gave him a long standing ovation prior to his first at-bat. He crushed the first pitch he saw of the 2025 season 467 feet, and predictably, Truist Park exploded.
“We had already talked about (in the broadcast meetings) when Acuña comes to the plate for the first time, we need to be silent because they’re going to give him an ovation,” Braves play-by-play announcer Brandon Gaudin told SN. “We just didn’t know how long or how big it would be, and it was long, and it was very large. That moment summed up how this fan base feels about Ronald Acuña Jr, and lo and behold, he has that storybook moment of hitting the first pitch over 400 feet for a homer.
RONALD ACUÑA JR. HR ON FIRST PITCH AFTER ACL SURGERY 😱🔥
UNREAL.
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/KKqOhppOY9
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 23, 2025
“In my three years doing this, that’s as loud as I’ve heard this place. It was as loud as (Austin) Riley’s homer against Philly in the 2023 postseason here that won Game 2 of that series. For that to happen during a regular season game that otherwise, without Acuña coming back, was a pretty mundane game, how the reception was for him told you everything you need to know about where he stands in their minds.”
And the feeling is mutual. Acuña, who grew up in Venezuela and signed a contract with the Braves at 16, can often be seen wearing Hawks gear in the clubhouse. He was the first player to commit to this season’s Home Run Derby because he wanted to give his adopted hometown fans something extra. At the time, it wasn’t clear if he would make the All-Star team due to his limited games this season, so he was potentially giving up valuable off time in the middle of the season to participate.
“Outside of Venezuela, Atlanta is my second home, and I just love being here,” Acuña told SN. “I want to continue to be a member of this organization. I want to be in this organization for the rest of my career. I’m comfortable here. I like it here. I feel like I know everyone. And so for me, it would just be a dream to be able to stay here.”
Acuña a true fan favorite in Atlanta
Riley, a two-time All-Star who joined the Braves one year after Acuña, says the right fielder is clearly the face of the franchise.
“When I’m signing autographs during BP, the fans are all like, ‘Where’s Ronald? Where’s Ronald?” Riley laughs. “I always say when he’s on, he’s in a league of his own. If they had a higher league than the major leagues, he would probably be getting called up.”
Acuña is on a 44-home run pace for a 162-game season this year, but felt tightness in his back the week leading into the All-Star Game. He sat out one game, then proceeded to hit three home runs in his next five games. Still, the strain of taking a series of home run swings was not the wisest thing for the Braves’ most valuable player to undertake despite the excitement he would bring to the event. Teammate Matt Olson is taking his place on Monday.
“I remember last series in New York sitting down at the batting cage with hitting coach Tim Hyers, and Acuña stepped up there and hit the first five balls a country mile,” Gaudin said. “Hyers turned to me after those first five pitches there at Citi Field and he just goes, ‘He’s not human.’”
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The Acuña jerseys at Truist Field dominate the crowd at most home games. There’s a buzz in the bottom of the first when he leads off. There’s anticipation when a fly ball is lofted to right field with No. 13 in the area. Braves fans have their new legend, and they will get a chance to show the rest of MLB this week.
“I do think it’ll be a very loud ovation once he comes up for his first at-bat, and especially when they announce the starting line-ups (on Tuesday),” Bowman said. “The crowd will definitely show it’s love, because this is a guy that is not only theirs, he’s been theirs from the start when he was a kid.”
