Ronald Acuna Jr. no-showed in the Braves’ stunning NLDS loss to the Phillies.
And then he no-showed his chance to take accountability for both the Braves’ flop and his disappearing act.
“No habla,” Acuna Jr. told reporters before bolting, according to The Athletic.
While it’s not mandatory for each player to talk after each game, it’s a bad look for Acuna Jr. after he had no impact on this series and due to his status as one of MLB’s top players.
Top players are expected to take responsibility, such as how Dodgers star Mookie Betts said he “did absolutely nothing to help us win” during the Diamondbacks’ shocking three-game sweep of Los Angeles.
Plenty of other Braves owned up to their failures, including Matt Olson and Spencer Strider, but Acuna Jr. didn’t feel inclined to.
Perhaps Acuna Jr. was showing solidarity with Orlando Arcia after the controversy following his “Attaboy, Harper” comment.
Despite producing the first 40-70 season in baseball history that will likely win him the NL MVP Award, Acuna Jr. went just 2-for-14 without a homer or RBI in the four-game series loss.
His most memorable play might have been when he told Phillies fans to be quiet after Austin Riley’s temporary go-ahead homer in the fourth inning of Thursday’s 3-1 loss.
Acuna Jr. had a chance to be Atlanta’s hero when he came to the plate against Craig Kimbrel with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning in a 3-1 game.
The outfielder gave the ball a ride, but it died short of the wall in left-center to end Atlanta’s best threat of the night — in which he went 0-for-4.
Postseason failures are now becoming a theme for Acuna, who was sidelined with a torn ACL during the Braves’ World Series title run in 2021.
He’s 7-for-29 (.241) with just two extra-base hits and zero homers and zero RBIs over the last two postseasons, both Divisional Round losses to the Phillies.
The 25-year-old is also just 13-for-64 (.203) with one homer and two RBIs spanning his last four postseason series, a stretch of 18 games.
Acuna Jr. is under contract through at least 2026, with two team options for 2027 and 2028, so he should have more chances for postseason glory with Atlanta.