"This guy has the juice" - Former Mets pitcher raves about Ronald Acuna Jr.’s instant impact in comeback game

Having missed out on almost all of the 2024 season after sustaining a knee injury early in the campaign, Ronald Acuna Jr. made his much-anticipated return to the field in the Atlanta Braves' clash against the San Diego Padres on Friday.

Raring to go after spending such a long time on the sidelines, the Venezuelan managed to make an instant impact in his first at-bat, hitting a home run to center field off the first pitch he faced.

Speaking to MLB Network Radio shortly after the game, former Mets pitcher A.J. Ramos commended Acuna Jr.'s performance.

"The things that he (Ronald Acuna Jr.) does makes the game fun to watch," Ramos said. "He's just one of those guys that has the swag, even when he's not doing well, you think 'this guy has the juice'. He came in and showed it, his first pitch, got the foot down, hit that ball out.

"I mean, for a starter, that really sucks, because you're trying to ease into the game. You're not thinking Acuna is going to swing right there. He hasn't seen a live game pitch in over a year. What a great moment, as a star player for this sport, that's what you want to see, and it's great for the game."

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Braves legend predicts Ronald Acuna Jr.'s presence to be key in helping the team get to the postseason

Despite the Atlanta Braves' inconsistent start to the season, franchise legend Chipper Jones believes Ronald Acuna Jr.'s return will play a key role in ensuring the 2021 World Series winners make it to the playoffs come October.

"I think they're going to take off. I really do. I think they're going to take off," Jones said via '680 The Fan'. "He (Ronald Acuna Jr.) has been the catalyst to that offense ever since he got here. Everybody in the East had a chance to bury us. They had that chance to bury us — we were four or five games out.

"And we're not even to Memorial Day yet, so I think they're about ready to go on a pretty good run. But, I mean, given the fact that those two horses stay."

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As the race for top spot in the NL East heats up, Braves fans will hope Jones' predictions prove accurate as the season progresses.

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 Krutik Jain