NEW YORK -- Ronald Acuña Jr. should create some electricity among the hometown fans when he competes in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on July 14 at Truist Park in Atlanta. The Braves superstar accepted his invitation with an announcement on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday evening.
"I'm super happy to be competing in my third Derby and even more so to be doing it in front of the best fans in baseball, in Braves Country," Acuña said through an interpreter. "I'm super excited.
"It just gives you a tremendous level of confidence from all the fans who are there supporting you."
Acuña won the National League MVP Award in 2023 and then missed the final four months of last season with a torn left anterior cruciate ligament. Competing in the Derby for a third time and first time since 2022 will give the Venezuelan outfielder a chance to show that even with two surgically repaired knees, he remains one of the game’s premier power hitters.
There’s a good chance Acuña will grab the spotlight in his home ballpark during this event of monstrous home runs. Despite missing half of the 2021 season and a majority of last season, Acuña has hit an MLB-best 24 home runs of 450 ft. or longer going back to his 2018 rookie season and including the postseason. Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are tied for second with 22.
Braves bullpen catcher José Yépez will serve as Acuña's pitcher.
"They haven't announced the other participants yet, but to me the most important thing is to just put on a good show," Acuña said.
Acuña has hit nine home runs while tallying just 107 at-bats since making his season debut on May 23. Despite missing the Braves’ first 49 games, he is still on pace to hit more than 25 homers. He belted 41 homers as a 21-year-old in 2019 and was on pace for another 40-homer season before he tore his right ACL two days before the 2021 All-Star break.
Acuña recorded one of the greatest seasons in history in 2023, when he hit 41 homers and recorded 73 stolen bases. No player had previously recorded more than 47 stolen bases during a 40-homer season.
Braves fans will be looking for Acuña to fare better than Chipper Jones did when he participated in the Home Run Derby at Turner Field in 2000, when the All-Star Game was last in Atlanta. Jones homered in the All-Star Game, but he tallied just two homers in the Derby.
When Acuña competed in the 2019 Derby, he showed his ability to hit for power to all fields. He totaled 25 homers to eliminate Josh Bell in the first round and then was defeated, 20-19, by Pete Alonso in the second round.
Acuña matched up against Alonso again in the first round at Dodger Stadium in 2022 and was eliminated by an identical 20-19 tally.