Ronald Acuña Jr. becomes 9th Braves player to win National League MVP award

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Ronald Acuña Jr. is the 9th Braves player to win the National League Most Valuable Player award.

Acuña made history in 2023, becoming the first player to hit 40 home runs and steal 70 bases in a single season. He is also just the fifth person to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season and the first since Alfonso Soriano in 2006.

Acuña beat Los Angeles Dodgers stars Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to win the award. Acuña joins Johnny Evers in 1914, Bob Elliot in 1947, Henry Aaron in 1957, Dale Murphy in 1982 and 1983, Terry Pendleton in 1991, Chipper Jones in 1999 and Freddie Freeman in 2020 as winners in a Braves uniform. He is the first Braves outfielder to win MVP since Murphy in 1983.

Freeman joined the Dodgers in 2022 after spending the first 11 years of his career in Atlanta. He was the last Brave to win MVP, winning the award in 2020.

The announcement of Acuña’s win comes the same day it was announced that Atlanta will host the 2025 All-Star Game.

The NL MVP is voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), made up of baseball writers from around the country. The BBWAA also votes on the Manager of the Year Award and Cy Young Award. Braves skipper Brian Snitker finished third in Manager of the Year voting this year and ace Spencer Strider finished fourth in Cy Young voting.