Acuna Jr. reacts with Snitker in the dugout. / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
Atlanta Braves four-time All-Star Ronald Acuna Jr. took issue with the way manager Brina Snitker chose to address Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic’s lack of hustle during Atlanta’s 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Kelenic hit a long drive to right field that he presumed was going out of the park for a home run, so he took his time running out of the batter’s box. When the ball stayed in play, he was thrown out as he attempted to reach second base.
After the game, Snitker was asked if he said anything to Kelenic about his lack of hustle, to which the Braves manager replied, “Was I supposed to?” Braves beat writer Mark Bowman pointed this out in a post on X, and Acuna, on his own account, called out Snitker for not criticizing Kelenic in a since-deleted tweet.
“If it were me, they would take me out of the game,” Acuna wrote.
Acuna is miffed with Snitker’s handling of the situation because of its stark contrast to how the Braves manager handled a similar instance involving the 2023 National League MVP during a 2019 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Acuna, in almost the exact same fashion as Kelenic on Saturday, dogged it out of the box as he admired a long fly ball, which instead landed in the field and resulted in only a single for Acuna.
Snitker, after having a talk with Acuna, pulled the star outfielder from the game before the fifth inning. After the game, the Braves manager was critical of Acuna, then in his second full season in the big leagues.
“He didn’t run. You’ve got to run,” Snitker said at the time. “It’s not going to be acceptable here. As a teammate, you’re responsible for 24 other guys. That name on the front is a lot more important than the name on the back of that jersey. You can’t do that. We’re trying to accomplish something and do something special here and personal things have got to be put on the backburner. You just can’t let your team down like that.”
Acuna himself acknowledged that there was “no excuse for it” while speaking to reporters back in 2019. But he clearly doesn’t appreciate that Snitker didn’t publicly criticize Kelenic in the same manner in a very similar situation on Saturday.
Acuna is continuing to work his way back from a torn ACL that cut short his 2024 season. He could return to the Braves lineup as soon as next month.
