Name: Ronald Acuña Jr.
2023 Age: 25
2023 fWAR/rWAR: 8.1/8.3
Contract Status: Signed through 2026 with two club options that could extend the deal through 2028. Will make $17 million in 2024, same as 2023, and will continue to make that salary until 2026, 2027, or 2028 depending on if club options are exercised.
2023 At A Glance: It seems to be little debate anymore about who will take home the National League MVP Award. After a torrid August put him back in the argument, Mookie Betts faded some in September as Acuña, ever the consistent force, continued to produce. By the end of the year, he had an offensive season that had never before been seen. He finished with league-high marks in runs scored, hits, stolen bases, on-base percentage, OPS, total bases, and even WAR. He finally put the torn ACL of 2021 behind him. He is also an all-around better hitter than any previous season, striking out just 11.4% of at-bats. That's roughly half his career mark. While his ISO has still not matched the 2020-21 levels of +.300, it rebounded 110 points in 2023 versus the previous year. That - and his remarkable health - allowed him to reach 41 homers. He finished 2023 with 86 barrels, a ridiculous rate, to go with an xwOBA of .463.
A Look Toward 2024: Acuña is back on track for a career that could land him among the greatest to ever play. What might be interesting to watch is how he continues to add to his game. In 2021, he made the effort to be aggressive at the plate but not overly aggressive, leading to fewer whiffs and fewer called strikes as well. This year, he completed that push with a 7.7% swinging-strike rate, down 4% from 2020. With no real weaknesses in his offensive game anymore, might Acuña look toward defense? A decent defender prior to his ACL injury, the numbers now paint the picture of a limited outfielder in terms of range since. Some of that is due to having never gained back all of his pre-injury speed (29.4 ft/second in 2021, 28.0 ft/s in 2023). He's also never been very good, at least in Statcast's eyes, when it came to reaction. His route-taking is elite and as is his arm, but he gets such poor reads and jumps on the ball that it leads to a lower expected catch percentage. Can Acuña do better? If he does, he might truly be the most flawless outfielder in the game.