Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. Seemingly Overlooked in Latest MLB Player Rankings

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. has experienced an up-and-down last few years mostly because of multiple serious knee injuries. But when on the field, he's one of the best in the game.

Acuña is back on the field and playing at an All-Star or even MVP-type level, putting a second ACL knee surgery behind him. But it hasn't been enough for some analysts to place him back among the very best in the league.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller ranked every MLB team's franchise cornerstone on Wednesday. Miller placed Acuña outside the top 10 at No. 11 on the list.

"Last year was a bust for Acuña, posting a .716 OPS in 49 games before his torn ACL," Miller wrote. "Since his return in late May, though, he is hitting much more like the phenom who won NL MVP in 2023.

"Still waiting on the stolen bases to become part of his arsenal again, but his OPS is up to 1.000 in 16 games after another home run Monday night."

Miller might be waiting a while for those stolen bases to return. Acuña suggested to the media this offseason before his return that he might steal fewer bases going forward to preserve his knees.

But Acuña doesn't need to steal bases to be an elite franchise cornerstone. Aaron Judge and Vladimir Guerrero don't steal bags, and they were in the top six on Miller's rankings.

It's a stretch to compare Acuña to Judge right now just because Judge has been on another planet this season. But since his return, Acuña's numbers at the plate have placed him right next to any other star in the game.

In 18 games this season, Acuña is slashing .353/.436/.647 with six home runs and 11 RBI. During the same stretch, Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, who was No. 2 on Miller's list, is batting .257/.346/.571 with six home runs and eight RBI.

Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr., who was No. 3 on Miller's list, is slashing .235/.274/.412 with three homers and nine RBI since Acuña's return. New York Mets' Juan Soto, who sat at No. 5 on the list,is hitting .277 with a .422 on-base percentage, .569 slugging percentage, five home runs and 14 RBI.

Granted, 18 games is a small sample. But let's go back to the start of 2023, which includes Acuña's struggles from the 2024 season that Miller referenced. Acuña is slashing .320/.404/.550 with 51 home runs in his last 903 at-bats.

Forget about his record-setting stolen bases in 2023. At the plate, Acuña hit .337 with a 1.012 OPS and 41 home runs two years ago. He has two 40-homer, 100-RBI seasons in his career (2019 and 2023).

Acuña's No. 11 ranking would be more understandable if he came back this year a little slowly. Admittedly, I thought that would happen in large because of the knee injuries and lack of stolen bases.

I was wrong. Acuña hit the ground running immediately with a homer on the first pitch he saw.

We'll see if Acuña can continue the pace he's set for himself in his first 18 games back from injury. But for me, he's shown that he can do enough at the plate even without the stolen bases to be a top 10, maybe even top five, franchise cornerstone in baseball.