Ronald Acuña Jr. takes shot at Braves over Jarred Kelenic gaffe

Atlanta Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic was thrown out at second in the sixth inning of Saturday’s 4-3 home win over the Minnesota Twins after admiring what he thought was a no doubt home run. Kelenic failed to hustle out of the box and paid for it. Teammate Ronald Acuña Jr. watched the situation closely and wasn’t a fan of what happened in the aftermath.

Acuña, currently on the 10-day injured list as he recovers from a torn ACL last May, criticized the way manager Brian Snitker handled the situation. Snitker allowed Kelenic to stay in the game. However, Acuña has his doubts Snitker would do the same if it were him.

“If it were me, they would take me out of the game,” Acuña wrote in a since-deleted tweet.

Acuña hit send tweet in response to a post from MLB.com reporter Mark Bowman. A fan on X asked Bowman if Snitker had spoken to Kelenic about not hustling out of the box on the play. Bowman responded that Snitker “protected Kelenic by replying: ‘Was I supposed to’ when asked if he had said anything to Kelenic.”

He protected Kelenic by replying "Was I supposed to" when asked if he had said anything to Kelenic. He certainly could have said something, seeing how Kelenic's home run trot put him on the dugout side of the first base coach's box when the ball hit the wall. https://t.co/z49jv2pr6a

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 20, 2025

Ronald Acuña Jr. takes issue with Brian Snitker

Acuña clearly still remembers what happened nearly six years ago. In a 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 19, 2019, Snitker removed the then 21-year-old Acuña from the game after he was slow to leave the batter’s box on a long drive that resulted in a long single. Snitker went into detail with the media on why he removed Acuña from the game.

“He didn’t run. You’ve got to run,” Snitker said after the game, via ESPN. “It’s not going to be acceptable here. As a teammate, you’re responsible for 24 other guys. That name on the front is a lot more important than the name on the back of that jersey. You can’t do that. We’re trying to accomplish something and do something special here and personal things have got to be put on the backburner. You just can’t let your team down like that.”

The Braves would probably like to restart the 2025 season. Though winners of their last two, Atlanta is 7-13, last place in the National League East and 6.5 games back of the New York Mets for first. Not helping matters is Acuña’s absence.

But the 2023 NL MVP is progressing well and could return to the Braves’ lineup next month. Kelenic could very well become the odd man out when Acuña returns. The 25-year-old is hitting just .170 in 47 at-bats this season.