Ronald Acuña Jr. has grown used to leaving fans in awe of what he can do on a baseball field and on Sunday night he took that to another level on a hit that didn’t even get out of the infield.
Acuña, who is 23 years old and is in his fourth season in the majors, hit a routine ground ball to shortstop during the Phillies-Braves game. There’s nothing crazy about that in theory, but what he then did in real life was pretty insane.
Acuña beat out the grounder, which had a 109 mph exit velocity, by running at a speed that just seems like a cheat code.
Check this out:
108.6 mph EV. Routine ground ball to Didi Gregorius and Ronald Acuña Jr. beats it out.
31.0 ft/sec sprint speed. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/lxF7i1UA1Q
— hashim (@___hash___) April 11, 2021
I mean, whaaat?
Here’s some more info on how fast he ran:
Ronald Acuña Jr. sprint speed on that infield single to start the game:
31.0 ft/sec
MLB avg = 27 ft/sec
Elite = 30 ft/sec— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 11, 2021
MLB fans loved it:
That’s Bo Jackson type stuff right there
— Chadthereseller (@chadthereseller) April 11, 2021
This is absolutely incredible – Ronald Acuña Jr. beats out a simple grounder right to Didi Gregorious. #Braves #MLB
31ft/sec sprint speed for Atlanta's leadoff guy going to first. Elite is considered 30ft/sec.pic.twitter.com/Okb6lvElnD
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) April 11, 2021
I see people faulting Didi for the clutch before the throw….but seriously how did Acuña do this? Mind blowing speed. https://t.co/cokJWeUUd1
— James Neveau (@JamesNeveau) April 12, 2021
Didi has a gun, which makes Acuña’s speed that much more impressive
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) April 12, 2021
How did Ronald Acuna beat out the throw on this routine grounder? I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of speed going down 1st base line before. That hustle made Ozzie Albies’ HR a 2 run shot instead of a solo. https://t.co/RLHSOywY4x
— Shutdown Man (@ShutdownMan) April 12, 2021
so we can agree that Acuña breaks that stereotype that "showboats" are lazy? holy crap what speed. https://t.co/CmkGGNlj7C
— Evan (@OhChev) April 11, 2021
