Ronald Acuña Jr. refutes report of contract offer, then whets appetites in Braves Future Stars game

Published Mar. 27, 2018 10:51 p.m. ET

Cory McCartney

ATLANTA -- Before he even played a game at SunTrust Park, Ronald Acuña Jr. had already created a dilemma for a Braves manager.

"We couldn’t hit him 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (and) 8," Hall of Famer Bobby Cox -- the manager for Acuña and the Future Stars for Tuesday's exhibition against the MLB team -- joked of hitting the phenom second. "He can hit anywhere in the lineup."

And by the second time he strode into the batter's box in the third inning, he showed the problems he'll be causing opposing pitchers, as Acuña laced a sharp line-drive single off an 85.8 mph changeup from Sean Newcomb.

Per Statcast, it had an exit velocity of 115.1 mph that would have been tied for 22nd in all of baseball in the 2017 season, and was a harder hit ball than any Braves player had last year.

Acuña went 1 for 3 in the Future Stars' 7-4 loss, grounding out to Newcomb before the outfielder exited in favor of Jefrey Ramos.

Now that we've had our first taste of Acuña in Atlanta, the question will certainly revert to when Baseball America's reigning Minor League Player of the Year is going to make SunTrust Park his permanent home.

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The wait shouldn't be long, but if the last week was centered around anything when it comes to the 20-year-old outfielder, it's been about hype both magnified and -- try as they might -- subdued.

After Atlanta opened up a spot for him in left field by trading away Matt Kemp, Acuña responded with a 432/.519/.727 slash line this spring, which included the second-highest average, on-base and slugging percentages of anyone this spring. His 19 hits led everyone in a major league camp.

But the Braves reassigned him to minor league camp last Monday, a move that general manager Alex Anthopoulos said was about "more development time." It was also a widely expected maneuver as Atlanta could limit Acuña's service time by keeping him down as little as two weeks and guarantee another year of club control through 2024.

“I obviously wanted to start (in the majors) and keep my entire time with the big-league squad and be here with the team,” Acuña said through an interpreter. “When they told me, naturally I was a little bit disappointed, but that’s not going to deter me at all from my work ethic or stop me at all."

Earlier this week came the report from ESPN Deportes that the Braves had offered Acuña a $30 million contract extension, which would have followed on the heels of what the Phillies did with Scott Kingery ($24 million for six years) and the Diamondbacks with Ketel Marte ($24 million over five years).

But before Tuesday's exhibition, Acuña refuted the report, saying "To be honest, I'm not sure where that came from. As of now I haven't received a contract, nobody's talked to me about a contract. There was no contract that was turned down or anything like that.

"I'm not sure where that started from, but that hasn't been the case."

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Per MLB.com's Mark Bowman, there was informal discussions, though they did not result in any formal offer. A contract certainly would have negated any reason to keep Acuña out of the lineup until mid-April, but now the watch for his arrival is back on.

He'll open the season with Triple-A Gwinnett, where he mashed .344/.393/.548 in 54 games to end a year in which he jumped three levels (and hit a collective .325/.374/.522 with 60 extra-base hits -- including 21 home runs -- and stole 44 bases).

He could arrive as early as April 14 when the Braves are on the road against the Cubs, or they can wait and have Acuña's MLB debut take place at home when Atlanta returns the 16th vs. the Phillies.

"I’m going to keep working hard, do everything I can, keep giving it my all and keep moving forward," he said.

Consider Tuesday just a taste as Acuña manned left field at SunTrust Park for the first time, and consider his manager for a day among those impressed with his skillset.

"He's a dynamic type player, five-tool guy," Cox said. "Little bit more seasoning down in Triple-A, get him off to a good start. Hopefully get him up here pretty soon."

Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney and Facebook. His books, 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Braves Stories Ever Told,' and 'The Heisman Trophy: The Story of an American Icon and Its Winners.' are now available.