A year ago at this time, we were all discussing the impact that now-20-year-old Ronald Acuna could have on the 2018 Atlanta Braves. The question was not whether he would be up to the major leagues, but when he would first show up – starting on opening day, or waiting until some service time had been met before getting called up.
To the chagrin of many, the latter was true, and Atlanta Braves fans went through roughly a month of their young star outfielder dominating in spring training, being told that wasn’t good enough to be on the opening day roster, heading to AAA, struggling with his timing and his swing, and then finally getting his focus back and beginning to crush baseballs again just in time to come back up for a debut on April 25th.