Ronald Acuña Wins Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year

Ronald Acuña has been voted the Baseball America 2017 Minor League Player of the Year over fellow finalists Bo Bichette, Jon Duplantier, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Austin Hays. This award comes just days after Acuña won the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award and MLB Pipeline Hitter of the Year.

Acuña hit .325/.374/.522 in 139 games as he managed a 20/40 season while leading the minor leagues in base hits and winning a Triple Crown within the Braves organization. He hit 21 homers while stealing 44 bases across three levels in Florida, Mississippi, and Gwinnett, while reaching Triple A at the age of just 19. Acuña also had 31 doubles and eight triples in his breakout season.

This award from Baseball America is considered to be the premier minor league award in the game. Andruw Jones is well known for winning the award in back to back years from 1995 to 1996. Jason Heyward is the only other Braves prospect to win the award, and he did so back in 2009.

Other previous recepients include Doc Gooden, Jose Canseco, Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez, and Derek Jeter. The last six awards have been won by Mike Trout, Wil Myers, Byron Buxton, Kris Bryant, Blake Snell, and Yoan Moncada.

Congrats to Ronald Acuña on his spectacular minor league season.