Justin Verlander's brother makes feelings known on Braves skipper's leadership amid Ronald Acuna Jr. controversy

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. was not happy with his manager, Brian Snitker, who didn't give Jarred Kelenic the same treatment as he did to the former NL MVP in 2019.

On Saturday night, Kelenic was thrown out at second base in the sixth inning due to a lack of hustle at the basepaths. The ball ricocheted off the wall, and the centerfielder was quick to catch Kelenic short, resulting in an out. When asked postgame about why Braves manager Brian Snitker didn't take him out of the game like he did to Acuna Jr. a few years back, he said he was unaware of Kelenic's lazy baserunning.

Acuna Jr., recovering from ACL injury, didn't find it right as he fired on social media, saying, had it been him in place of Kelenic, he would have been thrown out of the game. This never goes well, knowing the star player is turning back on his own franchise.

On Monday, Justin Verlander's brother Ben Verlander called out the Braves' leadership for the entire drama.

"What are we doing? This is a team that has vastly underperformed this year," Verlander said (5:20 onwards). "A team I picked to win the World Series. A team that is talented everywhere you look. And you finally have an opportunity, in my opinion, if you’re the manager, to light a fire. To say, “What are we doing here?” Make an example out of Jared Kelenic. Say: “This is unacceptable. We don’t play the game this way. This will never be allowed here.

"Bench him. Sit him the next day. Start someone else—someone who will run the bases hard. Someone who won’t pimp a home run unless it’s 50 rows deep."

What bothers Verlander even more is that Snitker let Kelenic play the next game as well.

"He left him in. Played him the next day," Verlander said. "And I guarantee you—if he didn’t see it live, he saw the replay. There’s no way he didn’t see the replay by Sunday. And still, he played. That’s insane to me. Where’s the Braves' leadership? It’s not Brian Snitker."

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Ben Verlander suggests what Braves manager and Jarred Kelenic should do to not let this get out of proportion

The Braves haven't started well this season, but they have hit the ground running in the last few weeks. However, if their star player, like Ronald Acuna Jr., is openly expressing his dissatisfaction, there is something wrong in the locker room, according to Ben Verlander.

In order to defuse the situation, Verlander wants Snitker and Jarred Kelenic to own up to their mistake and address the locker room.

If I’m Jared Kelenic, I don’t want Acuña Jr. posting about me like that," Verlander added. "If I’m Kelenic, I walk into the locker room and say: “I’m sorry. I’m better than that. I didn’t run hard enough.

"I need to be better. That’s not how we play the game.” And Brian Snitker? He needs to say: “I’m sorry I didn’t pull him. He won’t be playing tomorrow. That is not the Braves way.”

Ben Verlander believes that the situation needs to be addressed immediately in the locker room. As for Acuna Jr., he has since deleted the tweet.