With a season in hand – and what a season – Ronald Acuna says he is feeling even more at ease than at this stage a year ago.
But how can you really tell? Doesn’t he always seem pretty much comfortable when dropped onto a baseball field? That’s his idea of an inflatable bouncy castle.
No choice but to take his word for it. “I feel a little better, just the fact of a little more experience,” the National League’s reigning rookie of the year said through the Braves interpreter Monday. “Obviously, I think my confidence is a little higher because of all the playing time and all the experience I had over the past year.”
Acuna hit his first homer of the spring Monday against the Astros, a blast to straight-away center in a 4-3 loss.
And being that there is never an insignificant time to hit a home run - even early March - he said, “A home run is a home run. The important takeaway from it is I feel good at the plate, that’s what I’m taking away from it.”
It certainly didn’t hurt the mood of his manager, an always upbeat fellow anyway. But the subject of Acuna only seems to increase the wattage on Brian Snitker’s natural outlook.
“He’s swinging the bat good. The takes. The contact he’s making. He has been really consistent, really steady, right where he needs to be,” Snitker said.
Cleaning up a few other details from Monday at spring training:
*Snitker said shortstop Dansby Swanson, coming off wrist surgery, is expected to make his spring training debut Tuesday in Tampa against the New York Yankees. That’s the plan, anyway.
*He added that starting pitcher Kevin Gausman – sore shoulder – got through pitching his batting practice session in one piece Monday, and his next step would be a return to a regular spring training regimen if he reports pain-free Tuesday.
*As for third baseman Josh Donaldson, the Braves plan to put him through “elevated drills” (situational base running, sliding) at their camp Tuesday in order to test out his troublesome calf. “He ran the bases yesterday and it went really, really good. If he gets through all that we’ll reassess and go from there,” Snitker said.
