“Think the reporters exaggerated” – Ronald Acuña Jr. clarifies his comments on Freddie Freeman
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Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuña Jr.
Atlanta Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. issued a clarification on Thursday for his previous comments on his former teammate Freddie Freeman. Earlier, the Venezuelan baseball player had said that he would miss “nothing” about Freeman, who signed a 6-year contract with Los Angeles Dodgers, on an Instagram Live session with Dominican journalist Yancen Pujols.
“I think the reporters exaggerated,” Acuña said in Spanish, as quoted by MLB.com. “I didn’t say anything bad about Freeman. I talked about what happened in 2018 when I was a rookie. The rest was blown out of proportion.”
Acuña, 24, went on to explain that some of his displeasure with Freeman stems from an incident in the outfielder’s rookie season (2018). As per the La Guaira native, Freeman and some other veterans pulled the young outfielder aside and even wiped the eye black off his face.
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“When you come up as a rookie, there’s always somebody who wants to stick it to you,” Acuña explained. “You come with your swagger from the Minor Leagues. … A lot of people look at it as wrong and I don’t look at it as wrong because it’s part of the game.”
“Can’t wait for Ronald to get on the field”
On being asked about Acuña’s comments during an interview with MLB Network, Freeman replied that he and other veterans were only trying to uphold “organizational rules” that were in place with the Braves.
“When you put on a Braves uniform, that’s just kind of what happens there,” Freeman said. “I didn’t view it as any friction or clashes or anything like that. I loved Ronald. I still love Ronald. I’m gonna miss Ronald. My family is going to miss Ronald, and I can’t wait for him to get on the field again because the game of baseball needs him.”
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Sachin Arora
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