Tuesday, March 20, 2018

All In on Acuna

OK I am all in on Ronald Acuna – I special ordered a jersey with his name on the back. Will be interesting to see if I ever see one like it. I got his spring training number 82 on the green St. Patrick's Braves jersey, with his name and hopefully the mark over the N. As a high school sophomore I wore 82 playing football. We were out Saturday night and I didn't have any green to wear. Below is what an authentic green jersey looks like. We shall see how close mine will look.
Now the only jersey I need is the 1976 red pinstripe, either with KNUCKSIE 35, CHANNEL 17, BOUTON 56, DEWS 10, or PATTERSON 42 on the back - probably Dews or Patterson. Can't believe Dews wore 10 back then, but he did (below). Not a good Bobby Dews number. He's worn 10, 22, 52, 53, 66, and other numbers for the Braves.
Acuna seems to have filled out since last year, especially in the haunches. Long term based on his body type, do you think his career could be like Andruw's or Ken Griffey Jr? Both beat themselves up in the outfield. Hopefully Acuna well be a better, more disciplined hitter than Andruw. Acuna is going to have to take care of himself. This spring he's been hit by 4 pitches. Not sure that's a good thing.

Was listening to the game on the radio Sunday and they were referring to him as "Ronald Acuna Junior." I hope they don't add JR to the back of his jersey. Let's hope he doesn't. Larry Wayne Jones Junior never did. Guess I should've ordered mine that way. I stumbled across his father's baseball card on the internet, when he was with the Mets (and wore 49, currently Julio Teheran's number).  



Any other thoughts on the team? Glad Schimpf got sent down. I guess the fourth outfielder won't be decided until Acuna gets called up in mid-April. Will Moylan make the team?

CPA: the Acuna Sr card I saw was from Bowman in the early 2000's.  I don't have that one, as I was never a big Bowman collector.

I hope they have him up on opening day.  It is the "right" thing to do - you need to have your 25 best, major-league ready players on your team.  I think down the road it will come back to haunt them if they leave him in the minors to game his service time. I don't think Heyward is a good argument for the service time question.  Part of the reason the Braves never tried to extend Heyward is that they never really knew who he was as a ballplayer.

I think Acuna will be somewhere between Andruw and Griffey.  I think playing CF every inning of every game aged him quicker than normal.  If the Braves keep Acuna in a corner OF spot, I believe that will be better for him in terms of career longevity.

I think Moylan makes the team.  Preston Tucker reminds me of a Matt Diaz-type.

ME: Anna wants to go to the July 26 game to see The Avett Brothers postgame concert. Would make for a late Thursday night. Years ago me and Matthew went to see them after a Braves game.
Sunday I noticed in the JFBC bulletin that JFCA is looking for a basketball coach. Staff includes headmaster Kimberly and teachers David, Brian and Sarah, Joanna, Margaret Dudley, Nita, and Sandy. Sandy's daughter graduated with Will and continues to dance post college, working a summer in NYC as well as on a cruise ship. Not sure, but JFCA academics may be slightly more rigorous than Veritas Classical School (Hembree Road in Roswell), Legacy Community Academy (Alpharetta Hwy across from Wendy's) and East Cobb Christian School (in ECPC across from The Avenue). JFCA has more extracurriculars.   

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