Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Ronald Acuna Jr. outshines more than half of MLB in one eye-popping stat

By Mike Santa Barbara | Last updated Jul 27, 2023 4:58 PM ET

Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. has tormented opposing teams with his speed on the base paths this season, leading MLB with 48 steals. However, Acuna's quickness with a bat has helped him post an eye-popping stat.

Entering action Thursday, Acuna has 44 balls put in play traveling 110 mph or faster, which is more than 19 teams, per Codify Baseball.

Unsurprisingly, Acuna also leads the league in average exit velocity (94.9 mph), and his max of 116.7 mph is fifth in baseball among qualified batters, behind only Shohei Ohtani (117.1 mph), Wilson Contreras (117.5 mph), Jake Burger (118.2 mph) and teammate Matt Olson (118.6 mph).

Ronald Acuña Jr. leads the majors in hits with 110+ mph exit velocity.@PeterMoylan showcases the resulting artwork pic.twitter.com/YryWXisd0v
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) June 11, 2023

Meanwhile, Acuna has also shown a sharper eye at the plate, striking out at a career-low rate. Through 100 games, Acuna has gone down on strikes only 55 times, way below his average of 168 K's a season.

In his first full season since an ACL tear in 2021, Acuna looks more like himself again and seemingly has his eye on the MLB record books. Nearing the end of July, joining the exclusive 40-40 club is still within reach for Acuna, who needs 17 long balls over the final 62 games to get there. However, he's already halfway toward an even more impressive mark. The 40-40 club has only four members, but none had more than 46 steals, which Acuna has already surpassed.

Along with his pursuit of history, Acuna is posting MVP-worthy stats, ranking third in the National League in batting average (.327), fourth in on-base percentage (.407) and second in slugging percentage (.569) and OPS (.976). With August around the corner, Acuna is the overwhelming favorite to win MVP (-500), miles ahead of Freddie Freeman (+800) and Mookie Betts (+1400), per Oddschecker.

Mike Santa Barbara

Mike Santa Barbara is a Wilmington, Delaware native (Yes, it's a real place) with over a decade of sports writing experience. A diehard Philadelphia sports fan, he has two dogs named after Flyers and cried real tears when the Eagles won Super Bowl LII. You can follow him on Twitter at @mike__sb

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