In case you haven’t heard, Ronald Acua Jr. of the Atlanta Braves is a prolific home run and base stealer this season.
As he did when he became the first player to record a 30-60 season, the National League MVP candidate became the fifth player to enter MLB’s 40-homer, 40-stolen base club on Friday.
Jose Canseco (1988), Barry Bonds (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998), and Alfonso Soriano (2006) are the only other MLB players to go 40-40 in a season.
Acua finished 41 home runs and stole an NL-best 37 bases in 2019, coming agonisingly close to joining the 40-40 club. This year, MLB rule changes that made it harder to steal a bag and limited the number of pickoff attempts benefited his cause.
Ronald Acuña Jr., MVP?
Even without those achievements, Acua is close to tying Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL MVP award, with teammates Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson trailing closely behind.
For most of the season, Acua was the clear favourite, but Betts overcame a rough patch to take the lead in WAR and several other stats. Following this, Acua went on his own hot streak, batting.386/.446/.807 over his last 13 games.
Currently, Betts and Acua are almost tied or ahead of each other in most offensive categories, but Betts likely has the advantage in defensive value because he has experience playing shortstop and second base in addition to right field, where he has consistently earned Gold Glove awards.
It’s difficult to argue against Acua’s current status as the favourite, though, given the fact that he keeps making history.