Ronald Acuña Jr. named NL Player of the Month for September 2023

Hey, what’s one more bit of recognition for the guy that entered all sorts of history books this season?

Like many awards in MLB, this election was largely driven by vibes. Acuña was plenty good in September, with a 192 wRC+ and 1.6 fWAR in 119 PAs... but he was outhit by a handful of guys, including Juan Soto (206 wRC+) and teammate Matt Olson (204 wRC+), and finished seventh in fWAR for the month.

Still, he tied Olson as the only two players with 11 homers in that span, and of course, completed his journey to a 40/70 season. The stellar campaign helped him finish tied with Mookie Betts for 8.3 fWAR, the most in MLB among anyone that isn’t Shohei Ohtani.

In a fashion that renders this whole award kind of silly, this is actually the third time this year that Acuña received this distinction. He did so in April, then again in June, and now wrapped up the regular season with another. He had also previously won the “award” in April 2021. Barry Bonds is the overall recordholder with 13 different Player of the Month awards; Aaron Judge is the active leader with six.