"Ronald Acuna Jr.'s floor is Randy Arozarena; ceiling is Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts" - Braves insider believes 2023 NL MVP's low end is still good

Ronald Acuna Jr.'s 2024 season was cut short in May during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Acuna suffered an ACL tear on his left leg, effectively ending his hopes of bagging back-to-back NL MVP titles.

An Atlanta Braves insider recently pointed out that Acuna didn't have a noteworthy 2024 season even before the injury, but praised him for his performance last year.

On Thursday's episode of the "Locked on Braves" podcast, Jake Mastroianni shared his reservations about Acuna's return in 2025 and discussed his relatively lackluster showing this past season.

However, Mastroianni also said that even the worst version of Acuna is still above average.

"I think what concerns me the most going forward for Ronald is that even before the injury in 2024, we were seeing the 2022 version of Ronald, who, again, is still a very valuable player," Mastroianni said (23:53). "I don't want that to get lost. Even Ronald at his worst was still an above-average player and a valuable player, but certainly not to the degree that we expect."

Mastroianni added that Acuna's ISO in 2022 and 2024 were 148 and 115, respectively. The number is significantly lower than his other seasons where his minimum was 238.

However, Mastroianni found a silver lining in arguably Acuna's worst performance.

"Now, a version of Ronald Acuna Jr. that hits .250 or .260 with an on-base percentage around .350, scores 90 runs, and maybe goes 20-20, that's still a good player," Mastroianni said (24;46). "That's essentially Randy Arozarena, who I think many of us would consider to be a good player. Maybe not a great player, maybe not a perennial All-Star, maybe not a perennial MVP contender, but still a good player.".

"And I think that's what Ronald's floor is Randy Arozarena. Obviously, his ceiling is Mookie Betts or Shohei Ohtani. That's his ceiling."

Mastroianni shares key factors to monitor in Ronald Acuna Jr.'s return

Jake Mastroianni has no doubts about Ronald Acuna Jr.'s skills and physical or mental abilities. After all, the star outfielder injured his right ACL in 2021 but returned stronger. Nonetheless, Mastroianni said that he will closely monitor three things when Acuna returns.

The first thing is his strikeout rate, which he admitted isn't something that can be easily reduced quickly. The second one is power as Mastroianni wants to see whether the 2023 NL MVP can bring back his ISO over 200, or even in the 230 - 240 range. The third is how fast Acuna runs and how many bases he can steal.

Mastroianni earlier revealed he doesn't want him to follow Kyle Schwarber and Matt Olson's style to increase his pull rate. Moreover, he also put Michael Harris II as an MVP contender, potentially against Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. However, he admitted Harris might not win it.