“He’s struggling”: Ronald Acuna Jr sheds light on his inability to perform, Kevin Seitzer says pressure is disturbing
Follow Us
Ronald Acuna Jr
Ronald Acuna Jr has been one of the hottest players in the league for a couple of months now, his fan following grew drastically as they saw him blast homers out of the park, but most probably popularity does trumps numbers in All-Star voting, and Acuna still led the National League in votes.
Lately, Ronald Acuna Jr has not been hitting as well as he did earlier in the season, and the team knows it. Atlanta Braves star, with the All-Star break just days away, also picked to compete in the Home Run Derby despite ranking eighth on the Braves with only eight homers and well behind teammate Austin Riley, who has hit 24 home runs but is not in the derby as he is not even picked for the All-Star Game.
The Atlanta Braves have still proved to be one of the league’s hottest teams after being termed as a team that performs in Ronald Acuna Jr’s shadows. They have narrowed the gap with the New York Mets to pull themselves within a handful of games for first place in the National League East.
Also Read: “Great to be back”: Derek Jeter indicates towards a comeback to Major League in some fashion
Ronald Acuna Jr to pull himself out of the slump after All-Star game?
“He’s struggling,” said coach Kevin Seitzer told The Athletic, with respect to Ronald Acuna Jr. “There’s mechanical stuff that we’re working on. He’s just having a hard time getting comfortable. It’s ongoing. It happens to all of them over the course of a year. He’s frustrated. He wants to do good, and he expects to do good.”
In Ronald Acuna Jr’s first 32 games after painfully rehabilitating from a serious knee injury, the hot-in-form star hit .316 with a .950 OPS. In his next 23 games, he hit only .221 with a .614 OPS and a mere two homers and six RBIs. Leading National League vote getter?
Also Read: “Balls are low”: Aaron Boone expressing his annoyance upon the empty-headed calls made by umpires
“For me, it wasn’t normal Ronnie — his (normal high) exit velos, driving the ball the other way and all that,” added coach Kevin Seitzer said. “Yeah, he had a few homers. He had some extra-base hits. But when this guy gets going, it’s rockets all over the field. Pitchers are scared, and he’s all full of confidence, and he’s making them come to the middle of the plate because he’s not chasing the garbage pitches that they want him to (swing) on.”
Also Read: “Out for 2-3 weeks”: Luis Severino suffers a damaging blow to the Injury List says Aaron Boone
Stay Updated!
Yagya Bhargava
(611 Articles Published)