He’s 22. Doesn’t speak English. Don’t know how he did in school. No college for sure. But don him in a baseball uniform … release him to run around a baseball field? He’s a Ferrari.

Ronald Acuna Jr. is, well … just a phenom. Plays outfield for the Atlanta Braves. When he’s in a game? Everything changes. How his teammates play. How the crowd responds. How opposing players’ gazes turn fearful. He’s explosive. He hits. He runs. He fields and throws a baseball. All with Hall of Fame agility. At age 22.

l believe in energy. If this was about electricity, Ron Acuna would be the electrical grid.

A funny story. I first saw him when he played with the Gwinnett Stripers. While watching the Braves AAA team here in GA. A rather uneventful game on a Saturday evening. A great friend, Doug salivates when he sees kids playing stick ball in an alley. He’s a baseball aficionado. Stats, trips to spring training in Arizona. Get the picture? He convinced me to drive 40 min. north of Atlanta to see the Stripers play. “Hey Doug, how ‘bout we go to a nursery instead and watch plants grow?” That’s how I excited I was. 

But our tickets were ultra first class. Doug’s treat. $8 seats … a mac and cheese, deep fried chicken and grits buffet included in the price. Wow! Pepto Bismo at the door as we left for our seats? Said all about this feast. And then there we were. Right behind home plate watching the Stripers play … joined by all the other twenty five other rabid fans in the stands. 

As the game started, he gracefully waltzed into the “on deck circle.” Smack dab in front of Doug and me. Blocking our view of home plate. Doug doesn’t have a short fuse. I do. He cared little about our temporary inconvenience. I did.

“Hey, #13? Could you move over a step or two so I can see?” Remember. First class $8 seats. And that Mac and cheese? I was farting repeatedly, loudly at it all rose to the surface. Not feeling great. “Hey 13 … !!” Nothin’.

Either this guy was arrogant, unfeeling or deaf. Didn’t move a centimeter. One more time. “Hey!!” If I’d had any balls … I’d have reached out and grabbed his belt. We were that close to this clown. Nothin’ He wouldn’t move.

“I’ll tell em to fine you!” “You’re gonna whiff, you bum!” Just impossible to get this guy’s attention.

Then he strode to home plate. Wacked the first pitch. Wow! Made me feel guilty about my disrespectful behavior. What was that? A cherry bomb? Maybe a car wreck. No. Just Ron Acuna hitting a baseball. I’d never heard a sound like that as someone hit a baseball. Never.

Chipper Jones, Braves legendary Hall of Famer, once watched (actually heard) Acuna in the cage taking batting practice before a game. “I closed my eyes and listened to the ball hit the bat. I’d never heard it before.” The cherry bomb. A car wreck maybe.

All this is to say that Ronald Acuna is off and running. He went from the Stripers to the Braves in 2018 and today is one of the most exciting, dynamic players in all of baseball. When he’s in the lineup, the Braves are a different team. He’s the spark plug. Like the Ferrari, he runs the bases. That rocket arm. And that sound of his bat is worth full price of the $100 first class seat watching the Braves play. A bag of peanuts has replaced the mac cheese. “Gas” from Gwinnett still onboard. But my view is unobstructed. Acuna is the star of the show.

There is only one sports figure I’ve ever run to the TV to watch him swing …Tiger Woods. For years I have marveled at his gifted, rhythmic movements on the golf course. I now see the same magic whenever Acuna steps to the plate. Like Tiger, just wows me.

Whenever I pass gas today, I revisit that night in Gwinnett. The buffet, the great seats. All the fun with “Dougie” … inside joke. The fact that I was unable to move someone who is? May become. No … will become one of greatest athletes of our time.