Ronald Acuna Jr just did something nobody in the 150-year history of this sport has ever done faster. On Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Park, Acuna crushed a three-run, 379-foot homer in the 7th inning off the Nationals, and it wasn't just homer No. 200 for his career — it also locked him into the 200-200 club, joining an exclusive group that's only ever included Alfonso Soriano, Eric Davis, Bobby Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds.
200 career home runs for Ronald Acuña Jr.!
The number that matters here is 904 — that's how many games it took Acuna to get to 200 homers and 200 steals, shattering Soriano's old record of 929 games, set back in August 2006 against these same Nationals. Shaving 25 games off a two-decade-old record is the kind of thing that gets buried in a random Wednesday day game, but it shouldn't be.
Context matters here too. This is a player who's dealt with an injury-interrupted season — Wednesday's blast was just his 14th homer of the year — and who's coming off a 2023 MVP campaign that already made him the only member of the 40-70 club (40 homers, 70 steals) in MLB history. Getting to 200-200 faster than anyone ever has, even in a banged-up season, says everything about the ceiling this guy operates at when healthy.
Ronald Acuña Jr. launches his 200th career home run! (Via: @MLB)
The Braves ran away with the game, 9-0, with Sean Murphy also going deep for a three-run shot and 4 RBIs in the win. But the day belonged to Acuna. Braves manager Walt Weiss summed it up postgame: "We know Ronald's talent. It's freakish talent. So he's capable of doing unbelievable things."
Acuna himself leaned into the history of it. "I know how much I've kept working to be here," he said. "For me, it's an honor to be on that list with Alfonso Soriano." It's a humble way to describe passing a guy whose record stood for 20 years — and a reminder that at 28, with a full, healthy season still likely ahead of him, Acuna's power-speed numbers are only going to keep climbing further up that short, historic list.