LOS ANGELES — Ronald Acuña Jr. flipped his bat and beat his chest, reveling in the silence of a stunned opposing crowd. His second-inning grand slam from Dodger Stadium on Thursday night had extended the Atlanta Braves‘ early lead against the only team that comes close to matching their dominance within the National League.
It also brought him to history in emphatic fashion.
Acuna’s latest homer, off Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Lance Lynn, made him the first player in baseball history to amass at least 30 home runs and 60 stolen bases within a single season. He did it on the final day of August, with an entire month still ahead of him. And he did it while squaring off against Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the two men challenging him for the NL MVP Award.
Acuna might have some catching up to do.
The Braves’ 25-year-old right fielder entered Friday with 6.5 FanGraphs wins above replacement, third-highest in the NL. Betts (7.5) and Freeman (6.8) ranked slightly ahead of him on the heels of a scorching month of August, production that matched the success of a Dodgers team that has won 24 of its first 28 games this month. But Acuna entered the highly anticipated four-game weekend series from Dodger Stadium leading the majors in on-base percentage (.416), steals (61), hits (178) and runs scored (119).
Acuna now has 150 home runs for his career, making him the second player in major league history to record 150 homers and 150 steals at the age of 25 or younger.
The only other player to do that was Mike Trout.