Ronald Acuna Jr. one of MLB’s best. He says brother, a Rangers prospect, may be better
Ronald Acuna Jr. is in the conversation for best player in the National League.
The center fielder can do it all on the field, has done it all on the field at the age of 22, and is one of the main reasons the Atlanta Braves are in the National League Championship Series.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have two candidates for the NL’s best player, right fielder Mookie Betts and center fielder Cody Bellinger. Needless to say, there is some serious star power in the best-of-seven NLCS that starts Monday night at Globe Life Field.
Meanwhile in Arizona, another Acuna is continuing to make a name for himself, and not just because of his unique first name.
Luisangel Acuna can play, too.
And he plays in the Texas Rangers’ organization.
This isn’t another brother act like Rougned Odor and Rougned Odor (not a misprint). The younger Odor brother is out of organized baseball.
While it might seem unlikely that Luisangel will be in the discussion for a league’s top player in a few years, he’s one of the Rangers’ top-15 prospects.
Some rank him higher than that, including Ronald.
“I would say he’s a five-tool player,” Ronald said Sunday. “He’s got the makeup that you need. God willing, if everything goes right and everything goes well, he has the potential to be better than me.”
As unfair as it is, people will naturally want to compare the two Acuna brothers. Both know how to hit, are athletic, play with tremendous energy and have no fear.
The Rangers, though, are going to keep Luisangel in the infield, whereas Ronald was always destined to be an outfielder. Ronald is taller by about four inches, though it took a late growth spurt for him to top out at 6-feet tall.
Maybe Luisangel, who is 18, catches up to him.
He has some growing to do figuratively as well.
The coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of the minor-league season, so Luisangel has yet to make his debut in the United States. He has participated in instructional leagues, as he is doing now at the Surprise Recreation Campus, but his only professional experience came last year in the Dominican Summer League.
He was unable to return to Venezuela during baseball’s shutdown because of his native country’s travel policy, so he was stuck in Surprise part of the time and traveled to stay with Ronald in Atlanta.
Luisangel saw Ronald terrorize East teams as a leadoff hitter. Though he batted a career-low .250, Ronald posted a career-highs in on-base percentage (.406), slugging percentage (.581) and OPS (.987).
He stole eight bases and played exemplary defense in right field and center field. He did not commit an error in 46 games.
“He’s a superstar in the making,” said Braves third-base coach Ron Washington, the former Rangers manager. “That’s how good he is.”
Yet, the superstar says his little brother could be a better MLB player.
“I say that just because being my brother I had the privilege and advantage of watching him play as he was growing up,” Ronald said. “I can tell you with certainty that he was able to do things as a younger player that I wasn’t able to do at his age. Seeing him being able to do those things at that age leads me to believe he has that potential.”
Ronald hit a home run late in the season 495 feet. It was the longest homer this season.
Luisangel, whose short, compact swing resulted in a .342 average with an .893 OPS in 2019, can do that.
“At the age of 17 he is hitting home runs the way I’m hitting them now,” Ronald said. “That’s the best comparison I can make. He is playing the game at his age the way I am playing now.”
However, Rangers fans probably shouldn’t expect Luisangel to make his MLB debut at age 20, as Ronald did. The plan for now, six months before the 2021 season begins, is for Luisangel to open at Low A Hickory as a 19-year-old.
Ronald opened at High A at age 19 and moved all the way to Triple A. He made his MLB debut in 2018.
The Rangers, though, have always been of the mind-set of challenging their best minor-leaguers by pushing them to a higher level — Leody Taveras is a prime example of that — and allowing their play to dictate when they should be moved up.
But when the Rangers look to the future, they might have an Acuna of their own playing at Globe Life Field.
