"AMOREE MÍO" - Ronald Acuna Jr. shows love to sister Sophia on her 16th birthday

On December 18, 1997, Ronald Acuna Jr. was born to Ronald Acuna Sr. and Leonelis Blanco, in La Guaira, Venezuela. Ronald is the oldest of four siblings, with one of his younger brothers, Luisangel, also currently plying his trade in the big leagues, with the New York Mets.

Another one of his siblings, a sister named Sophia, celebrated her 16th birthday on Sunday. To celebrate her big day, Leonelis Blanco took to Instagram to dedicate a post to her daughter.

"I love you my wisdom" Leonelis Blacno captioned her Instagram post in Spanish

Reacting to the post, Ronald Acuna Jr. left a comment declaring his love for his younger sister.

"AMOREE MÍO❤🙌🔥😍" Ronald Acuna Jr. commented in Spanish, which translates to "MY LOVE"

Screenshot of Ronald's comment on his mother, Leonelis Blanco's Instagram post (Image from - Instagram.com/@leonelisblanco)

Ronald Acuna Jr.'s sister, Sophia, has often shown she is her brother's biggest supporter

For any baseball player that manages to successfully live his dream of playing in the major leagues, a supportive family plays an unseen but extremely important role. Ronald Acuna Jr.'s case is no exception.

A love for baseball runs in Ronald's family, with both his grandfather and father having played in the minor leagues. Ever since he began playing baseball as a kid in Venezuela, his mother and siblings have been right by his side every step of the way.

As Acuna headed off to the United States for the first time in 2014, after signing with the Braves as an international free agent, his family continued doing what they could to support him from afar.

Now that Ronald Acuna Jr. is a one of the most popular players in the majors, his family are often spotted at the ballpark cheering for him. Most recently, Leonelis Blanco and Sophia headed stateside to cheer for Ronald in mid-August.

Sophia later took to Instagram to share a series of snaps from an enjoyable trip to Truist Park.

Though the 2025 season has been one to forget for the Braves, it has been a good year for Acuna on a personal level. After spending pretty much the entirety of the 2024 season on the sidelines due to a knee injury, the Venezuelan finally made his much-anticipated return on May 23.

Ever since returning, Acuna has been one of his team's most influential players. Currently batting .284 with 18 home runs and 37 RBIs, the outfielder also earned his fifth career All-Star selection earlier this year.

About the author

Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor's in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav's favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball's best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by Raghav Mehta