Inside Ronald Acuña Jr.’s tumultuous offseason — and the historic 2023 that followed

The last time Ronald Acuña Jr. played a playoff game, he retired in the middle of it.

It’s Jan. 24, 2023, and the face of the Atlanta Braves is 2,000 miles away from Truist Park, wearing a lighter shade of blue and a T on his chest. The prodigal son of La Guaira, Venezuela, had returned to native soil to bat third for his hometown Tiburones in the Venezuelan Winter League championship.

Winter ball cannot feasibly be compared to the upcoming Phillies-Braves National League Division Series. The quality of stateside major-league play is far superior. Acuña’s Braves and the rival Phillies are two of the most talented, star-studded teams on earth. The five-game set is sure to be a spine-tingling battle of juggernauts, as Acuña enters October with a very real chance to win his first (on-field) ring.

But the sheer passion of Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional is indisputable.

Baseball is the most popular sport in Venezuela and the national circuit is the only opportunity to watch high-level baseball. For Acuña, the homecoming hero playing in his country’s championship series for the first time, the stakes were immense.

But not everyone was happy to see him.

Only a few days before the LVBP finals, Acuña, through a translator, conveyed that he was unlikely to play for Venezuela in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. His rationale: The Braves were uneasy about any lingering effects from his 2021 ACL tear.

Many Venezuelans were skeptical of Acuña’s reasoning: Why would the Braves let him play winter ball on a different continent, without any supervision, but restrict him from baseball’s premier international showcase, set to be played at an MLB stadium just hours from Atlanta’s spring training complex?

Multiple sources confirmed to FOX Sports that the Braves organization hadn’t planned to discourage Acuña’s participation. They were comfortable letting him play for Tiburones, so the WBC shouldn’t have been a problem. But whether due to miscommunication or reasons unknown, the most talented Venezuelan player in the world appeared destined to miss the tournament.

Predictably, the home fans let him hear it. Many a middle finger was tossed his way. Even in the generally laissez-faire world of winter ball, Acuña’s circus act had ruffled some feathers. His recent WBC announcement only intensified the reaction. Amid the chaos, a scuffle broke out in the stands between Acuña’s family and a group of Leones supporters. 

News of the fracas soon made its way back to an understandably concerned Acuña, who promptly removed himself from the game, retreated to the locker room and posted an Instagram story with a message that he was retiring, effective immediately, from Venezuelan winter ball.

Acuña’s sudden exit became the talk of Venezuelan sports. The fallout was instant and definitive. Fans went at him on social media. He deactivated his Instagram. Some members of the press turned against him. Then things got even messier.

On an Instagram Live stream, longtime big-league shortstop Álex González insinuated that Acuña was soft, proclaiming that the four-time All Star retired from winter ball because he could not handle the pressure. Acuña promptly clapped back with a vengeance in a since-deleted tweet:

“Álex González, life has to be difficult for you in retirement. When talking about the best Venezuelan shortstops nobody mentions you. Your numbers are not impressive and you’re just using my name to show off. I keep playing, making history and you keep criticizing me from your couch.”

That’s about when Miguel Cabrera, the greatest Venezuelan player of all time, got involved. 

Initially, Cabrera, the WBC team captain, was forgiving toward Acuña opting out of the event, commenting on an Instagram post that fans should be respectful of the decision. But after Acuna’s mid-game retirement, Cabrera’s tone changed in an Instagram post from Jan. 25th:

“Buenos mal no jugaron en la época de nosotros. Los hace llorar los fanáticos.”

This translates to: “It’s real good [Acuña] didn’t play in our day. The fans would have made [him] cry.”

This was less than ideal; the country’s most legendary player publicly criticizing its brightest young star a month before the quadrennial tournament. The past scolding the future. It was, at best, a bad look. (Both Acuña and Cabrera declined interview requests to discuss the events of this past offseason.)

Ultimately, and most importantly, Cabrera’s post was a turning point.

In the days following Acuña’s WBC announcement and winter ball departure, inner-circle members of Team Venezuela, Cabrera included, agreed to try to change the young superstar’s mind. They concluded the bickering wasn’t worth it and that a visit from the big man could get Acuña on board.

They wanted him around. They knew how special he was.

“We tried to talk to him,” Seattle Mariners and Team VZ third baseman Eugenio Suárez told FOX Sports. “Like why are you gonna do that? What’s going on? But from the very first moment we thought, ‘we need this guy on our team.’”

And so Cabrera, who makes his offseason home in Miami, journeyed to Venezuela for a sit-down with Acuña. The old guard, departing at the end of the 2023 season, burying the hatchet with the next great Venezuelan superstar.

“Miggy went to Venezuela to talk to him personally,” Suarez said. “And then [Acuña] decided to play.” 

With Acuña in the fold, the Venezuelan team jelled quickly, breezing through pool play in a tough group before a beastly USA team and a Trea Turner grand slam sent them home in the quarterfinals. And while Acuña, who went 4-for-18 with one extra base hit in Venezuela’s five games, didn’t dominate the tournament, he regained something greater: His reputation at home was more or less back to normal. Team Venezuela showed incredibly well, despite its heartbreaking premature exit, with the nation generally proud of how the club had performed.

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For Acuña, there were no obvious lingering effects from the late January mess. One Venezuelan baseball insider compared it to how Argentina has treated Lionel Messi over the years. The team underperforms, Messi says he’s done playing and gets crushed by the press, he changes his mind and the country comes back with open arms.

Further helping matters, Acuña immediately followed the WBC with one of the most impressive MLB seasons in recent memory. The presumptive MVP made history by stealing 73 bags and smashing 41 homers, while playing in 159 games and cutting his strikeout rate in half to re-establish himself as one of the best handful of ballplayers on the planet. It’s very much been The Year of Acuña.

And while people around the Braves have lauded his work ethic for years, one member of the team noted Acuña’s process was “on another level” in 2023. Another called him “laser-focused” His routine has included a higher level of intention and purpose, more precision to his preparation. Acuña credits that to feeling fully healthy, the surgically reconstructed ACL no longer a factor. Now he is limitless, unleashed, fully weaponized.

What’s more, Acuña’s relationship with Cabrera seems fully repaired. The aging icon, in his farewell season, penned Acuña’s blurb for Time Magazine’s Next100 list. In an August interview when asked about Cabrera, Acuña humbly replied, “He’s everything to me.”

It is unfair, overly simplistic, to claim that Acuña’s tumultuous offseason is responsible for his magnificent 2023 MLB campaign. A wave of angry tweets, a scuffle in the bleachers and a visit from Cabrera alone did not propel the Braves superstar to one of the greatest seasons of the 21st century. Acuña, and his fully healthy leg, did that himself. His 40/70 output is the product of work, talent and health, among other things.

But what happened to Acuña over the winter is still a part of his story, a turbulent prologue to an unforgettable summer. He played in his home country for the first time and was initially treated like a hero only to be pushed into retirement mid-game. Oh yeah, then the best player in the country’s history flew in for a chat about playing for the national team.

Perhaps a bit more eventful than morning workouts and a trip to the beach.

What’s important moving forward — for Acuña, for the Braves, for Venezuelan baseball — is who he is now and what he represents to a baseball-crazed nation of 28 million. By bWAR, his 2023 was the most valuable season in MLB history from a Venezuelan player. In a month’s time, he’s expected to become just the third player from the South American nation to win an MVP award. 

Still only 25 years old and in his sixth big-league season, Acuña’s just getting started.

There’s a chance that a decade or so from now, whenever he calls it a career, he’ll have surpassed Cabrera as the greatest Venezuelan baseball player ever. Yes, those are big expectations for someone still young enough to be on his parents’ insurance plan, but this Acuña looks matured, strong in mind and body, ready to handle whatever comes his way.

And as he enters a massive series, a massive month, a whole nation stands behind him.

Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ is a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He played college baseball, poorly at first, then very well, very briefly. Jake lives in New York City where he coaches Little League and rides his bike, sometimes at the same time. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Mintz.

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