Atlanta Braves Fans Shouldn’t Set Expectations High For Ronald Acuna
By Kit Anderson
The Atlanta Braves have spent the majority of their off-season getting their team ready to put top prospect Ronald Acuna into the lineup. Though Acuna could soon become one of the top outfielders in the game expectations for Acuna in 2018 should be checked.
Ronald Acuna is likely to start the season as a member of the Atlanta Braves starting lineup but fans should lower their expectations for the young standout outfielder’s first season. Acuna is a great talent that can play but will go through growing pains in his first season as an Atlanta Brave.
Acuna is the cliche “five-tool player” that has the ability to become a top ten player in baseball within the next half decade. But for fans that believe Acuna will be that player this season they are mistaken.
Not only will he not be that player, he could even face the same struggles that Dansby Swanson did to adjust to the pressures of the Major Leagues. There is no denying that Acuna and Swanson are at different talent levels at this point in their careers but the basic example is to point out that even the best prospects often struggle their first season to adjust.
Acuna struggling shouldn’t be surprising it should be expected with the knowledge that as he works through his growing pains he will turn out to be one of the best outfielders in baseball. Paired with Ender Inciarte and Freddie Freeman in a lineup that is starting to look like a lineup that can contend in the years to come.
There is no questioning that Ronald Acuna is one of the best prospects that Braves fans have seen in a very long time. But there is also no questioning that Acuna is still just that, a prospect who is going to have to learn on the job in 2018.