user icon
1. His full name is Ronald Jose Acuna, and he was born Dec. 18, 1997 in La Guaira, Venezuela. 2. The Braves signed Acuna in July 2014, and the scout who signed him, Rolando Petit, tried to sign Acuna’s dad in the 1990s. 3. Acuna's dad, Ron Acuna, played in the Mets, Blue Jays and Brewers organizations from 1999-2006, reaching as high as Double-A. 4. Ronald Acuna played in Australia in November and December 2016. In 20 games, he had an OPS of 1.001. 5. In 2017, Acuna became the youngest MVP in the Arizona

The 11 players MLB Network ranks ahead of Ronald Acuna

Braves
By

How many baseball players are better than the Braves’ Ronald Acuna? 

Eleven, according to MLB Network. 

The all-baseball-all-the-time cable channel Thursday night ranked the Braves outfielder No. 12 on its list of the game’s overall “Top 100 Players Right Now.”

Here are the players ranked ahead of Acuna by the network: No. 1 Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels outfielder; No. 2 Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder; No. 3 Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder; No. 4 Mookie Betts, Dodgers outfielder; No. 5 Alex Bregman, Houston Astros third baseman; No. 6 Anthony Rendon, Angels third baseman; No. 7 Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees pitcher; No. 8 Jacob deGrom, New York Mets pitcher; No. 9 Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies third baseman; No. 10 Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians shortstop; and No. 11 Juan Soto, Washington Nationals outfielder. 

Let the debates begin. 

The ranking of Soto one spot ahead of Acuna continues the inevitable comparisons between the two young NL East stars. 

>> ALSO: You can watch these nine Braves games on TV from spring training

Three other Braves players were ranked in the top 100: first baseman Freddie Freeman at No. 15, second baseman Ozzie Albies at No. 55 and pitcher Mike Soroka at No. 67. 

The rankings were described as the result of statistical and scouting analysis by MLB Network’s production and research staff. The formula was different than that used by the network for its earlier ranking of the top 10 players at each position. 

Support real journalism. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today. See offers.

Your subscription to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution funds in-depth reporting and investigations that keep you informed. Thank you for supporting real journalism.

X