Any proof of racism or just because you disagree with him he has to be a racist?
GDT: Braves @ Phillies Game 4: Avoid the Death Blow
- Thread starter bravesfanforlife88
- Start date
Any proof of racism or just because you disagree with him he has to be a racist?
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I was never much of a baseball player, but I do remember being told to back up on every play even if the ball isn't hit your way. You never know what's going to happen.
I'm not going to dog on Acuna, but there are times he has brainlocks. The game wasn't decided by his failure to back up and maybe the staff should have done a better job schooling the team on the nuances of the Phillies' ballpark. They've played there before so they should now about the nooks and crannies along the outfield wall, but a reminder may have been in order.
I'm not going to dog on Acuna, but there are times he has brainlocks. The game wasn't decided by his failure to back up and maybe the staff should have done a better job schooling the team on the nuances of the Phillies' ballpark. They've played there before so they should now about the nooks and crannies along the outfield wall, but a reminder may have been in order.
msstate7
Well-known member
msstate7
Well-known member
Of course not. It's always the first thing people do when someone criticizes Acuna - call em a racist!
Obviously racists. lol
VirginiaBrave
Well-known member
Oh goody, all winter battle to be had over Acuna. The truth is he is talented, but he is overrated by Braves Nation. He has the tools to be the best RF in the game but the narrative of the Top 5 in all the game is ridiculous. Add to that if his knee doesn't fully recover then his power is greatly diminished then that Top 5 player in the game stuff looks even sillier.
Its actually shows inner racism to assume that is the reason.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
what.. what if it bounced off MH2 glove.. what if he kicked it to right.. What if he hit the wall and the ball slung his way... what if.. There is NEVER a time any player is a spectator. both Acuna and Rosorryio should be moving towards center and at a good pace to back up any crazy thing that could happen. you are about to be eliminated and you are saving your energy for what exactly?!?!?!
Now that play didn't lose the series, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with blasting Acuna over this. he is a showboat, which is why he hurt his knee, but most young players are now and it helps market the game, so I can live with it... but not doing the fundamentals to help your teammates is something that he should feel the wrath of fans and teamsmates for him being lazy in an elimination game no less.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
Again, I was never that much of a baseball player (pretty good fast- and slow-pitch softball player though), but as I said above, our baseball coaches always drilled us straight out of Chuck Tanner's baseball playbook that every player has a role on every ball that is hit and that role is usually "not stand around."
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bravesnumberone
Well-known member
It’s standard common sense at every level to always be moving. Even if you get paid millions. Joe routinely criticizes players for poor base-running and other things. Acuna deserved it, but it’s over. Move on and learn from it. Or don’t.
bravesnumberone
Well-known member
People here bitch at Snit for letting him steal bases and not reigning him in. Then if he gets reigned in or called out, racism/dinosaurism is the accusation.
chop2chip
Well-known member
I quibble with some of this (Acuna was the best RF in baseball prior to his injury). But I agree generally with what you said.
Post-injury Acuna has a lot to prove. He’s succeeded in large part because he’s immensely talented (and by all accounts very hard working. Supposedly his off-season workouts in Venezuela are insane).
If he’s going to realize his full potential, he has to prove that can play smart and adjust. I’m hopeful that a normal offseason will allow him to build back the leg strength to be an above average defender again. And no more silly stolen bases. Our lineup is built to hit home runs and doubles. There’s just no value in a guy stealing second base on this team.
I don’t think folks realize how major his knee injury was.
And pre injury he was clearly a top 5 mlb player.
Hell he was going to win MVP in a runaway before he got hurt.
I think he will be back to what he was next season as just ten years ago it took a full two years to come back from an injury like he had.
Yes you could come back in a year back then but 95% of the players didn’t perform as well pre injury until the following year.
I’m not worried.
Also I believe he will have 40 plus steals next season as the two pitch throw over rule is going to be big for stolen bases imo
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bravesfanforlife88
Well-known member
AA mentioned that Yates and Soroka will probably benefit from having a full offseason that is normal rather than rehab focused. I'm thinking the same will be true for Acuna.
Lets get the gang back together next year and dominate.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
It does need to be pointed out that while Acuna is under the spotlight here, there are a lot of other major league players who have a brainlock on things like this.
I don't know how often they do it, but I was watching a game on the MLB network that was called In the Dugout or some such thing and they had three major league players in the studio with the announcer and it's like they were watching a game on their couch and commenting on what they were seeing. The game I watched it was Mike Lowell, Cliff Floyd, and CC Sabathia providing the insight. I can't remember who made the comment, but it was something to the effect that for a variety of reasons, a lot of younger players are being rushed through the minors before they get schooled sufficiently in a lot of the nuances of the game. Like in most professional sports, raw talent has often pushed skill to the side in baseball and I think we see that when guys make stupid mistakes or overlook some basic instructional elements.
I don't know how often they do it, but I was watching a game on the MLB network that was called In the Dugout or some such thing and they had three major league players in the studio with the announcer and it's like they were watching a game on their couch and commenting on what they were seeing. The game I watched it was Mike Lowell, Cliff Floyd, and CC Sabathia providing the insight. I can't remember who made the comment, but it was something to the effect that for a variety of reasons, a lot of younger players are being rushed through the minors before they get schooled sufficiently in a lot of the nuances of the game. Like in most professional sports, raw talent has often pushed skill to the side in baseball and I think we see that when guys make stupid mistakes or overlook some basic instructional elements.
I'm the first one to point out how low Acuna's baseball IQ is. He may be one of the dumbest players in recent memory, and Snit/AA should be pulling the reins on him regularly.
However, not backing up a 400' smash to the left-center gap is not one of those times. Folks are just looking for things to complain about because the Braves lost. I'd be willing to bet 90% of all RFs would have barely moved on that ball, and the ones who did move would just be jogging in that general direction as they watched the play unfold.
Someone find more than a handful of videos of a RFer aggressively backing up a play like that, and I'll go find 5x that many of them standing still.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
Take it times a factor of 10 (5x) and you're probably closer to reality. The playoffs magnify all sins of commission and omission and that's a large part of what's going on here. Acuna's sin of omission is far less egregious than Turner calling off Taylor on the short fly ball the other night that Turner ended up dropping, but I don't recall seeing much of anything about that miscue.
Acuna looks like he's destined to become Andruw Part Deux in that as good as he may become, his detractors will remember plays like this and the baserunning boo-boos and say "He could have been better."
I guess my main point is that raw talent has become the trump card over fundamentals to some extent and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think as a result we'll all see little things like this more often. But you are absolutely right in asserting that Acuna is not alone here.
The Soto incident that got him demoted to radio for one. And it's isn't the first time he's called out Acuna while giving other players (notably white players) a pass for similar behavior. Dude is a dinosaur and needs to go.
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Someone on Twitter posted a clip with all the inside park homers by a Phillies player. More than a couple were the same thing that happened Saturday in the same park. And in those clips, the RF was nowhere to be found.
Stop trying to compare your little league fundamentals with professional athletes. News flash: major leaguers don't practice the alligator, don't run full speed on come backers to the mound or grounders to first, and they don't always catch pop ups with 2 hands either.
Stop trying to compare your little league fundamentals with professional athletes. News flash: major leaguers don't practice the alligator, don't run full speed on come backers to the mound or grounders to first, and they don't always catch pop ups with 2 hands either.
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bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
sounds like my kids excuse for not doing something they are supposed to. Well, no one else does it.. or Jimmy next door gets to do that instead.. don't look at me, look at them. childish and dumb excuses for not something that you should have done. We see guys pimping homers to then be stuck on first after it hits the wall, but since a lot of guys do it, I guess it is acceptable. I love when guys jump for fly balls when they don't need to and trash thier knees too.. but everyone showboats a fly ball, so who cares.
To excuse Acuna for not moving on that play because it was too far, or other RF didn't move in the same instance, is like a 13 year old's arguement for not cutting the grass. But it is fine, I can cut the grass.. and I will not hate Acuna for that play. I would him rather not run after any ball hit to center if it means he doesn't try making stupid leaping catches that he didn't have to jump on.
To excuse Acuna for not moving on that play because it was too far, or other RF didn't move in the same instance, is like a 13 year old's arguement for not cutting the grass. But it is fine, I can cut the grass.. and I will not hate Acuna for that play. I would him rather not run after any ball hit to center if it means he doesn't try making stupid leaping catches that he didn't have to jump on.