One down, one to go.
The Atlanta Braves cashed in on the first big postseason award Monday night, with left fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. earning National League Rookie of the Year honors.
In just 111 major-league games, the 20-year-old accounted for 26 homers, 64 RBI, 78 runs, 16 steals and four triples, along with superb tallies involving batting average (.293), on-base percentage (.366), slugging (.552) and OPS rate (.917).
And when recalling Acuna's excellence from Year 1, one otherworldly stretch stands out:
From Aug. 8-14, Acuna cracked eight homers, 15 RBI and 13 runs ... along with absurd numbers for batting average (.471), OBP (.514) and OPS (1.749).
When reviewing the season, it likely stands as the most prolific one-week explosion of any major leaguer.
Acuna became just the sixth Braves player to win the ROY, since the franchise moved to Atlanta in 1966–joining Earl Williams (1971), Bob Horner (1978), David Justice (1990), Rafael Furcal (2000) and Craig Kimbrel (2011).
The voting wasn't necessarily close, with Acuna commandeering the majority of tallies. However, to be fair, Nationals outfielder Juan Soto certainly deserved consideration for the esteemed award.
Why is that? Soto (22 HRs, 70 RBI, 5 steals, .292 batting averages) stands as the only teenager in MLB history to post a full-season on-base percentage above .400.
On Tuesday, Braves skipper Brian Snitker will contend with Craig Counsell (Brewers) and Bud Black (Rockies) for NL 'Manager of the Year' honors.
All three managers led their respective clubs to 90-plus victories.
BRAVES: 72 wins in 2017 ... 90 in 2018
ROCKIES: 87 wins in 2017 ... 91 in 2018
BREWERS: 86 wins in 2017 ... 96 in 2018 (No. 1 seed in NL playoffs)
