Ronald Acuña Jr. is still weeks away from making his 2025 season debut, but the Atlanta Braves superstar is already in midseason form thanks to the hustle, or lack thereof, from his teammate Jarred Kelenic.

After Kelenic failed to hustle out of the box on a ball off the wall, leading to him getting thrown out during a pivotal moment in Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Twins, fans immediately online questioned why Kelenic stayed in the game.

However, it wasn’t until the next day that Acuña Jr. fired his shots.

Ronald Acuña Jr. calls out double standard after Jarred Kelenic’s base running blunder

During Ronald Acuña’s sophomore season in the bigs, the then-21-year-old was pulled from a Sunday game against the Dodgers after he failed to hustle out a long single. Immediately after the game, manager Brian Snitker said, “.You’ve got to run. It’s not going to be acceptable here.”

While Acuña returned to the lineup the following day, it wasn’t the last time he’d draw criticism from his manager. In the 2019 NLDS, the Braves right fielder was two everyday regulars whose bat even showed up, but he came under fire after not hustling in the seventh during Game 1 of a very similarly hit ball.

Acuña not only drew heat from his manager, but also his teammates as well (who, as a reminder, did not pull their weight in a series that ended in historic embarrassment).

Since this incident, Acuña Jr. has managed to stay out of the lack-of-hustle jail, he clearly hasn’t forgotten about the lack of support he got from his team.

When Kelenic got thrown out at second on Saturday after admiring a fly ball off the Chop House bricks, Atlanta was tied in the sixth inning, and instead of having runners on second and third with no outs, Kelenic’s mistake eliminated a runner in scoring position that fortunately turned out not to be the difference. Braves fans were quick to criticize the struggling outfielder. However, Braves management wasn’t.

MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reported when Snitker was asked if he had any comments, the Braves manager replied, “Was I supposed to?”

This response drew the ire of many Braves fans, as well as Acuña Jr, who replied to Bowman’s tweet with, “If it were me, they would have taken me out of the game.”

Not only was this response shocking, but it wasn’t entirely uncalled for. Acuña Jr. drew the brunt of the criticism from his manager and teammates, then watched years later as his team defended arguably a worse offense.

One has to wonder whether Snitker’s lack of comments on the Kelenic play is his growth in learning how to better handle players, or if it’s a double standard for how he treats his players. With Acuña Jr. publicly voicing his opinions, there’s no doubt that the Braves manager will need to address the controversy immediately.