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Ronald Acuña was named USA Today Minor League Player of the Year. The award, which is voted upon by both writers and then subjected to a fan vote, was dominated by Acuña who beat out Zack Littel, Rafael Devers, Rhys Hoskins, and Jack Flaherty. Zack Littel won the fan vote, worth one point, but was out scored 5-2 by Acuña.
Acuña started the year started the year with the Florida Fire Frogs but after putting up a 135 wRC+ while hitting .287/.336/.478 with 14 stolen bases he was quickly promoted to Mississippi. Facing stiffer competition in AA, Acuña saw an uptick in production hitting .326/.374/.520 with 19 stolen bases and 9 homers - good enough for a 159 wRC+. His K% dropped significantly from 31.7% to 23% and the Braves saw enough out of the 19 year old to aggressively promote him to AAA Gwinnett. In 54 games in AAA Acuña hit .344/.393/.548 with 9 homers and 11 stolen bases and saw his K-rate drop down again to 19.8%.
On the year Acuña hit .325/.374/.522 with 21 homers and 44 stolen bases - a feat that hasn’t been done in the Braves minor league system since Andruw Jones hit 34 and stole 30 bases in 1996...while being promoted twice. After a short off-season Acuña will report to the AFL where he will be showcased against some of the top talent in all of the minors.