A year ago Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. put together one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history. The 26-year-old became the first player to ever join the 40/70 club, swatting 41 homers and stealing 73 bases while slashing a ridiculous .337/.416/.596. He led baseball in hits (217), runs (149), and total bases (383), and after the season he waltzed to his first NL MVP Award.
He did all of that while making $17 million — 20th among all MLB outfielders, and just below guys like Michael Conforto, Mitch Haniger and Andrew Benintendi. And thanks to the eight-year, $100 million extension he signed in April 2019, he’ll make the same amount each year from 2024-26, then face two $17 million club options in 2027 and 2028. Based on his production to date, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Acuna Jr. is the biggest bargain in the sport right now. And while he wants to remain in Atlanta for the long haul, he’d like to do so at a slightly higher price point.
Acuña made his first media appearance of the spring on Friday, taking the opportunity to reiterate his love for the franchise that signed him as a 16-year-old way back in 2014 — and to drop some not-so-subtle hints about a contract extension.
“It’s not a secret that I want to be a Brave for life. It’s my hope that we can make that happen soon,” Acuña told The Athletic when the subject came up.
MLB’s financial system is such that Acuna’s extension gave him substantially more money up front than he would have made otherwise. Even so, the numbers are stark: Had he not signed that deal in 2019, Acuña would be entering his walk year right now, set to demand a contract north of $400 million next winter. (And maybe even higher; players this good and this young rarely become available.)
Of course, for their part, the Braves have no reason to rush into an extension; they have Acuna under team control for another five years. They’ve also shown a willingness to let players — faces of the franchise like Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson — leave if the price isn’t right. Still: Acuna is better, and younger, than either Freeman or Swanson, the sort of superstar it’s almost impossible to replace. These are the guys you build around, and these are the guys you go out of your way not to burn good will with. Acuna seems willing to go along for now, but that likely won’t last forever, and it would behoove them to start carving out space for a new deal sooner rather than later.
Hypothetically, tacking eight years and $300 million onto what remains of Acuna’s current contract would take him through his age-38 season. Eight years and $300 million comes to $37.5 million a year, the second-highest average annual value for a position player in history behind only Aaron Judge’s nine-year, $360 million signed last offseason. It would bring the total value of his deal to 13 years and $385 million, covering his age 26-38 seasons; for comparison, Bryce Harper will make $330 million during his age 26-38 seasons.
Acuna can rightfully argue that he’s substantially better than both Harper and Judge, who was several years older and a shorter track record at the time he signed his megadeal. But Atlanta can use Acuna’s distance from the free market as leverage, arguing that he should take a mammoth payday now rather than hoping for an even larger one down the line — at which point he’ll be entering his 30s.
It would make sense for Acuna to wait a year to get serious about an extension. He would risk injury and/or poor performance, but he would be a year closer to free agency, and he would also get to see what Juan Soto gets as a free agent next offseason. If Soto gets $400 million, it would raise the market for the best in the league kind of players, a category to which Acuna belongs.
