Ronald Acuña Jr. needs to be a better teammate, at least according to one former Braves outfielder.
Days after Acuña’s since-deleted post on X that criticized manager Brian Snitker over his handling of outfielder Jarred Kelenic, ex-MLBer Jeff Francoeur spoke on the topic on 680 The Fan on Tuesday about the situation and went as far as to say Acuña “buriedz a teammate.”
The origins of the situation stem from Saturday’s Braves game in which Kelenic hit a deep fly to the outfield and jogged out of the box, seemingly thinking the ball was going out of Truist Park.
Nevertheless, the ball didn’t leave the yard, and Kelenic was thrown out at second base.
MLB.com’s Braves reporter Mark Bowman wrote on X the following day that Snitker said, “Was I supposed to?” when asked if he talked with Kelenic about his lack of hustle.
In a reply, Acuña wrote: “If it were me, they would take me out of the game.”
Francoeur, who noted how the Braves have been criticized for their slow start, said Acuña’s post was not something the team needed.
“And you got a guy who’s supposed to be your teammate, tweeting, probably out in LA, something that is completely meaningless and stupid,” he said on the radio.
Francoeur then said any notion that Snitker, who once benched Acuña in 2019 for a lack of hustle, is racist is preposterous.
“And you want to go farther with context, Acuña was warned time after time after time. After time. Let’s talk, like, 10 times to run before he ever got yanked. This is the first time Jarred Kelenic has ever done it. Now, real quick, do I think Snit’s answer to it was great? Probably not, probably not. He probably also didn’t expect after winning two games in a row, this is what he was going to be talking about.
“And also, to give you context, Jarred Kelenic was sitting in that man’s office Easter Sunday morning, waiting for him for 30 minutes, crying and apologizing. So there’s your context on that.
“Number three, Ronald basically buried a teammate. This wouldn’t have been a national story. Y’all probably wouldn’t even talked about it Monday. OK, right? Let’s be honest. If he did not mention it in a tweet and bring it to the forefront. So not only that, you buried a teammate by tweeting about this.”
Francoeur later said both former manager Bobby Cox and Hall of Fame icon Hank Aaron both preached that no one was bigger than “the A.”
Francoeur did concede that Acuña is probably the most talented player in the history of the franchise, but that shouldn’t exclude him from being a “good teammate.”
“Be a good teammate,” Francoeur said. “Be a good teammate. You’re making millions of dollars. You’re getting to play a kid’s game. Be a good teammate and pull for your team.”