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Ronald Acuña Jr. isn't with the Braves quite yet as he's still in the final stages of rehabbing last year's torn ACL, but he certainly noticed a double standard unfold in Saturday's game against the Twins.
He decided to air out that frustration publicly.
For all of Acuña's elite talent and obvious love for the game, there have been times when his showmanship hurt the Braves. In 2019, for example, Brian Snitker benched Acuña for admiring a fly ball against the Dodgers. He had to settle for a single off the wall and was thrown out trying to steal second.
Fast forward to Saturday night, and Snitker handled a similar scenario with Jarred Kelenic differently.
With the score tied in the sixth inning, the struggling Kelenic thought he gave the Braves the lead on a go-ahead two-run homer. He watched the ball the whole way and went into his home run trot towards first. When the ball stayed in play off the wall, Kelenic tried to stretch the long single into a double and was thrown out at second after a replay review.
It was the kind of mistake that can't happen. Yet, Kelenic was allowed to stay in the game, and Snitker didn't seem like he considered benching the outfielder when asked about it postgame.
That led to this tweet from Acuña:
Acuña claimed that Snitker would have removed him from the game had he done that, and he was probably right — as past history would suggest.
And while it's surprising to see Acuña raise that complaint in a public forum, Snitker has to hold his team to the same standard. Kelenic can't get a pass if Acuña gets punished for the same mistake.
The Braves did manage to win the game, but we'll have to keep an eye on how Snitker manages Acuña upon the superstar's return this summer.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Ronald Acuña Jr. criticized Brian Snitker after Jarred Kelenic wasn’t benched for not hustling on a non-HR
Continue reading...
He decided to air out that frustration publicly.
For all of Acuña's elite talent and obvious love for the game, there have been times when his showmanship hurt the Braves. In 2019, for example, Brian Snitker benched Acuña for admiring a fly ball against the Dodgers. He had to settle for a single off the wall and was thrown out trying to steal second.
Fast forward to Saturday night, and Snitker handled a similar scenario with Jarred Kelenic differently.
With the score tied in the sixth inning, the struggling Kelenic thought he gave the Braves the lead on a go-ahead two-run homer. He watched the ball the whole way and went into his home run trot towards first. When the ball stayed in play off the wall, Kelenic tried to stretch the long single into a double and was thrown out at second after a replay review.
It was the kind of mistake that can't happen. Yet, Kelenic was allowed to stay in the game, and Snitker didn't seem like he considered benching the outfielder when asked about it postgame.
That led to this tweet from Acuña:
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Acuña claimed that Snitker would have removed him from the game had he done that, and he was probably right — as past history would suggest.
And while it's surprising to see Acuña raise that complaint in a public forum, Snitker has to hold his team to the same standard. Kelenic can't get a pass if Acuña gets punished for the same mistake.
The Braves did manage to win the game, but we'll have to keep an eye on how Snitker manages Acuña upon the superstar's return this summer.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Ronald Acuña Jr. criticized Brian Snitker after Jarred Kelenic wasn’t benched for not hustling on a non-HR
Continue reading...
