{"id":102320,"date":"2025-06-17T20:33:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T00:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=102320"},"modified":"2025-06-17T20:39:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T00:39:29","slug":"ronald-acuna-jr-nl-player-week-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/17\/ronald-acuna-jr-nl-player-week-june\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. Named NL Player of the Week, But Braves&#8217; Woes Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/acunaro01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-17_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.<\/a> is back like he never left, as the Atlanta Braves superstar was named National League Player of the Week for June 9\u201315 after an explosive stretch at the plate. But even his heroics have not fully pulled Atlanta out of its funk.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Josh Smith: 11-for-26 (.423 AVG), 5 XBH, 9 R<br \/>\nRonald Acu\u00f1a Jr.: 13-for-21 (.619 AVG), 3 HR, 8 R<\/p>\n<p>Your <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chevrolet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Chevrolet<\/a> AL and NL Players of the Week! <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VxltmwKEby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/VxltmwKEby<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB (@MLB) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLB\/status\/1934718003309867261?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. Makes Immediate Impact in Return<\/h2>\n<p>Acu\u00f1a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/01\/ronald-acuna-jr-targeting-may-return-injury\/\" target=\"_self\">rejoined the Braves lineup<\/a> on May 23, nearly a year to the day after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/26\/acuna-acl-braves-injury\/\" target=\"_self\">tearing his left ACL<\/a>. At the time of his return, Atlanta was just below .500 with a 24\u201325 record, fresh off a two-game sweep by the Washington Nationals.<\/p>\n<p>After <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/04\/03\/braves-disastrous-start-winless-opening-road-trip\/\" target=\"_self\">opening the season 0\u20137 on the road<\/a>, the Braves fought their way back above .500 by May 13, only to fall back again shortly after.<\/p>\n<p>Acu\u00f1a, however, wasted no time making an impact. He homered on the first pitch he saw back in action, but his return didn\u2019t immediately turn the tide. Atlanta lost two of three in his first series back against the San Diego Padres, part of a brutal stretch in which the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/05\/atlanta-braves-pitching-woes-drop-fifth-straight-series\/\" target=\"_self\">Braves dropped six consecutive series<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>By the time they suffered a sweep by the San Francisco Giants in mid-June, the Braves had fallen to 27\u201337. Despite the skid, Acu\u00f1a continued to shine. Through his first 15 games back, he posted a .304 batting average with four home runs and seven RBI.<\/p>\n<h3>Acu\u00f1a Takes Home NL Player of the Week<\/h3>\n<p>Last week finally offered a glimmer of hope, and Acu\u00f1a was at the center of it. The Braves snapped their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/13\/braves-look-bring-momentum-home\/\" target=\"_self\">series losing streak<\/a> with a pair of wins over the Milwaukee Brewers, thanks in part to their star right fielder. Acu\u00f1a hit two home runs and drove in four runs in Milwaukee, striking out just once in 12 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102356\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102356\" style=\"width: 513px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-102356\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425794_168400885_lowres-300x190.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"513\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425794_168400885_lowres-300x190.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425794_168400885_lowres-1024x647.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425794_168400885_lowres-768x485.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425794_168400885_lowres-1536x971.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425794_168400885_lowres-2048x1295.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102356\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jun 11, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Atlanta Braves outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/acunaro01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-17_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald Acuna Jr.<\/a> (13) gets a base hit against the Milwaukee Brewers in the eighth inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The momentum carried over into the weekend, as Atlanta returned home and took two of three from the Colorado Rockies. Acu\u00f1a collected six hits, scored five runs, homered once, and stole his first base since returning, a welcome reminder of the abilities of the founder of the 40-70 club.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the week, Acu\u00f1a hit .619 with three homers, six RBI, and a 1.788 OPS. Since his return, he leads MLB in on-base percentage with .478 and trails only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/j\/judgeaa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-17_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Judge<\/a> in OPS, posting a 1.179 OPS.<\/p>\n<p>His performance earned him NL Player of the Week honors, but Acu\u00f1a\u2019s dominance can\u2019t fully mask Atlanta\u2019s broader issues.<\/p>\n<p>The Braves may be showing signs of life, but if they hope to save their season, they\u2019ll need more than just Acu\u00f1a\u2019s heroics. The spotlight is on the star, but the pressure now shifts to the rest of the roster ahead of a three-game series against the NL East-leading New York Mets.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. is back like he never left, as the Atlanta Braves superstar was named National League Player of the Week for June 9\u201315 after an explosive stretch at the plate. But even his heroics have not fully pulled Atlanta out of its funk. Josh Smith: 11-for-26 (.423 AVG), 5 XBH, 9 R Ronald [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4445,"featured_media":102355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071,35],"tags":[501,1982],"class_list":["post-102320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","category-news","tag-aaron-judge","tag-ronald-acuna-jr"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102320"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102359,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102320\/revisions\/102359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}