Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr gets 100% honest on third homer of season amid cold start

Atlanta is surging early in the season, despite Acuna’s struggles. The outfielder is batting .259 at the time of writing, with only three home runs on the year. Acuna now has two total hits in his last four games, after hitting this home run against the Mets. On the season, the Braves’ outfielder has 41 strike outs, to only 9 RBIs. He has also been fighting injuries.

The outfielder isn’t used to these kinds of struggles at the plate. Acuna is a career .290 hitter, who had a career-high batting average during the 2023 season. Last year, he hit for a .337 average, to go with 106 runs batted in. That stat was another career high mark for the slugger. He finished the 2023 campaign as the National League MVP. He also has been named an All-Star for the last three years in a row.

The good news for Acuna is that his bat seems to be perking up again. He has hit two homers in May, with both coming in the last 8 days for Atlanta. That’s double the amount of home runs he had in April. Acuna also had three multi-hit games to start the month, including a three-hit game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 4. The amount of strikeouts he has committed is slowing down, which is another good sign for the Braves. After whiffing a whopping 31 times in April, Acuna has only six strikeouts in May at time of writing.

The Braves are now 23-12 on the season, following the win over the Mets Friday. It was their third straight victory.

“We’re not even close to hitting on all cylinders yet,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said, per CBS Sports. Braves fans have to be excited about the team’s success with Acuna struggling. Atlanta is clearly an even more dangerous team when the outfielder is hitting the ball well.

Atlanta and the Mets play again on Saturday, with the first pitch scheduled for 4:10 Eastern. The Mets are 18-19 on the year.