The following, a new weekly feature of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, allows our reporters to open their notebooks and provide even more information from our local teams that we cover daily. We think you’ll find in informative, insightful and fun.
Soto: Acuña ‘unbelievable’
Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was among their many All-Stars in Seattle. He’s producing one of the most prolific offensive seasons in history, a runaway pick for National League MVP if he stays healthy.
Acuña’s good friend Juan Soto, formerly with the Nationals and now with the Padres, has enjoyed watching him from the opposite coast.
“He’s unbelievable,” Soto told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s good to see him. He’s an incredible guy. I’m more than excited to see him doing (all) this. It’s incredible how he plays the game.”
Brewers All-Star closer Devin Williams has also been amazed by Acuña.
“He’s got all the tools, man,” Williams told the AJC. “Anything you could ask him to do on a baseball field, he’s really good at it. He’s an exciting player to watch. He hit a ball off me in the WBC (World Baseball Classic) that I still don’t know how he hit it. And he hit it off the wall. He made contact on a pitch that was going to bounce and he hit it off the wall. I was dumbfounded by it.”
Velocity overrated?
Braves All-Star pitcher Bryce Elder has a 2.97 ERA during his breakout season. And he’s finding success with a fastball that averages 90.6 mph. Is velocity sometimes overrated?
“I don’t think so,” Elder said. “I think there’s a place for it. If I could throw 98, I’d throw 98. I just can’t. So, it’s more than just velocity. You look at the guys who have command and velocity. The Gerrit Coles, Clayton Kershaws, Spencer Striders. It’s always nice to have, but we’ve gotten in a place where sometimes people view it as mandatory, but I don’t necessarily think it is. You don’t have to have it. You can still get outs by commanding it and making it move.”
Representing Parkview High
Five Parkview High School products have made the majors. Braves first baseman Matt Olson is the first to make an All-Star team, which he’s done twice (2021, 2023). The Braves have had Georgia native All-Stars in consecutive years with Dansby Swanson (2022) and Olson. The last Georgia-born player to make an All-Star team with the Braves before them was Brian McCann (2013).
Hawks Griffin and Krejci stepping into young veteran roles
Second-year wing AJ Griffin and third-year guard Vit Krejci no longer are the new kids in the block. With three rookies on the Hawks roster, Griffin and Krejci have the voices of the summer league locker room.
In the Hawks’ minicamp leading to this year’s Las Vegas Summer League, the rookies looked to Griffin and Krejci for advice and chatted with them about their experiences the year before. During summer league, Griffin and Krecji have not shied away from the leadership that is expected of them.
For Griffin, one of his goals heading into summer league was to be more vocal. In the first two games last week, he helped call out plays, helped to direct the team’s bigs to their spots to get them open looks. Between whistles, Griffin chatted with rookies Kobe Bufkin and Mouhamed Gueye, providing them with advice.
“Some of the guys called me a vet, I was like “ain’t no way, it’s my second year,’” Griffin joked. “You know, it’s definitely cool. The games start to slow down, you’re able to just lead it in a different way, pick up a different role. And so I think it’s just cool to be able to see a different part of the game, as I continue to grow in this league and so just fun to be able to pass down that knowledge.”
Krejci, who spent his first season with the Thunder before the Hawks acquired him in September, picked up those duties when Griffin went to the bench. The 23-year-old leaned into his role and rarely stayed quiet in his 23 minutes on the floor Sunday.
The Czech guard is looking to make his case for his spot on the Hawks roster, as he heads into the upcoming season on a non-guaranteed deal. But that same support is what helped him earn his guaranteed contract last season in January.
Once summer league wraps this week, the Hawks will take some time off to prep for training camp at the end of September.
Knock knock
One thing Georgia Tech’s Brent Key did not expect to encounter as a head coach? Loneliness.
“Kids stopped coming into my office,” Key laughed when answering a question during Wednesday’s Atlanta Touchdown Club luncheon at the Capital City Club. “They would come in all the time and lay on the couches and stuff. All of a sudden, (Tech athletic director) J (Batt) walks in and gives me the contract (in November) and it’s like the locks went on.
“I’m the same person! It’s different. It’s just different.”
Key was hired as Tech’s coach in November after an eight-game stretch as the program’s interim coach. The Yellow Jackets went 4-4 over that stretch after a 1-3 start led to the firing of coach Geoff Collins.
A former offensive lineman for the Jackets, Key had previously been an assistant coach at Western Carolina, Central Florida and Alabama before returning to Atlanta.
Built-in tour guide
Georgia knew it was getting great size and strength in the low post when it signed Russel Tchewa as a transfer from South Florida this past spring. The Bulldogs probably didn’t know then they were getting a great interpreter and tour guide for their trip to Italy this summer.
The Bulldogs already are well into their preseason preparations for the basketball season. That’s because of a special NCAA exemption that allows them to prepare for a trip to Italy in which they will play three exhibition games over the course of a week in that country. They leave next week.
Turns out that Tchewa, a 7-foot, 285-pound graduate transfer, has spent quite a lot of time in that country. A Cameroon native, he lived in Italy from the age of 14 until he came to the U.S. to play college basketball and speaks Italian – as well as French – fluently.
It wasn’t until he decided that he was going to sign with the Bulldogs that Tchewa knew a preseason trip “home” was going to be in the cards.
“I was excited, obviously,” Tchewa told reporters gathered at UGA’s Stegeman Training Facility before a summer practice Thursday. “I’m going home because Italy is my home. I call Italy my home, so I’m very excited.”
Georgia is very excited to have Tchewa for other reasons. Mainly, he gives coach Mike White a big physical presence inside that White did not have in his first season as the Bulldogs’ coach. Though Tchewa continues to be a project when it comes to his offensive abilities, there is no questioning his defensive impact.
“His presence at 7-foot, 285, he’s a guy who has rebounded and defended at a high level in a league that’s pretty comparable,” White said. “I think the SEC is the best league in the country, but he’s done it at a pretty high level. The way he moves as a guy that size is pretty impressive. He’s a developing offensive player, but he’s only going to get better.”
Tchewa began his college career at Texas Tech before transferring to South Florida three years ago. Before arriving at UGA last month, he has played in 104 games, with 59 starts, and compiled 676 points (6.5 ppg) and 496 rebounds (4.8. rpg) in 19.6 minutes per action at South Florida and Texas Tech.
At USF, Tchewa appeared in 81 games, starting 59 of those contests and combining to score 638 points (7.9 ppg) and collect 475 rebounds (5.9 rpg).
“I think I may be a little underrated,” Tchewa said. “There’s good competition there (in the American Athletic Conference). Obviously, the SEC is bigger and tougher, but we had Houston in the American, No. 1 or 2 in the country all year last year. We’ve got Memphis. So, a good league there. (The SEC is) a little tougher, but that’s why I’ve got to get ready and been working since I got on campus.”
-Staff writers Lauren Williams, Chad Bishop, Gabriel Burns and Chip Towers contributed to this report.
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