While the Braves have been one of the hottest teams in baseball over the last two months, their all-world superstar (and NL leader in overall All-Star votes) has not.
Make no mistake that Ronald Acuña Jr. is, and will continue to be, one of the best players in baseball. Yet even the best still experience a slump, and the Braves' young superstar is no different.
Since the middle of June, Acuña has slashed .216/.301/.281 for an OPS of .582 with a shocking two home runs and seven RBI. That's just not like the young slugger. Grant McAuley joined Dukes & Bell to discuss the slump, and when he could potentially break free.
"This is not someone who has had to struggle for this long," McAuley said. "And failure, that's a great teacher."
McAuley noted that the three-time All-Star has been "getting out there early before batting practice and now doing a whole bunch of extra work."
In fact, there's a serious reason to believe that this is a bit of bad luck. Taking a deeper dive into his stats and the batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is glaring. For players who hit the ball as hard and as much as he does, the going average should fall around 35 percent. Acuña is sub-27 percent, and that should regress to the mean in due time.
If it is just a spell of bad luck and the superstar has increased his preparation, Acuña could very well exit this slump as a better player than the one that entered it.
That slump could come to an end in a hurry, notes McAuley. "(Acuña) is always a game or two away from turning into one of those red-hot streaks," he said. "And when Ronald gets hot, it's not 'oh he hit .300 last week with a couple of homers, it's Ronald bat .450 and hit five home runs."
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The fact is, Acuña is a superstar and fans should expect him to get back there sooner rather than later.