Acuna in a Snit with Snitker?
Just when the Atlanta Braves seemed to be emerging from their early season funk, another problem jumped into the picture. This time it wasn't an injury, or a PED violation/ suspension from a newly acquired high-priced player.
No, this was an occasion of slacker baseball, but with those ill effects amplified by contentious comments from a still- shelved star player posting his hypothetical notion that there would have been a different (harsher) consequence had he been the transgressor in that slacker baseball moment.
Details? With a runner on first and one out, right fielder Jarred Kelenic clubs a ball into deep right field. Thinking it's a homer, he jogs toward first base, only to see the ball fall short of home run distance , bouncing off the top of the wall and remaining in play. Kelenic then accelerates toward second base, where he gets thrown out. He thus cost his team an out, and a baserunner and probably a run, as he jogged back to the dugout, trying to not look embarrassed.
The Braves ultimately won the game, taking a bit of the edge off of the incident, until superstar outfielder Ronald Acuna, still rehabbing from last year's knee injury, posted his belief that he would have been pulled from the game had he committed the same sin as had Kelenic. Acuna's post, which wasn't up for long, was based on his own experience in 2019 when Snitker pulled him mid- game after a similar "mistake". ( it always seems gratuitous to term an obvious lack of effort a mistake, as it is a definite choice).
When Snitker was queried about the apparent lack of consequence for Kelenic ( the outfielder stayed in the game, and there was no apparent conversation between manager and player), the Braves skipper played coy- or was it dumb?
" Was I supposed to (talk to him)?" was Snitker's post- game reply. The following day, Snitker said he hadn't seen the play, but had in fact talked to Kelenic once he became aware of the slacker moment.
This was an explanation that beggars belief. And thus an utterly avoidable issue grew in size and scope, with inevitable overtones of double standards and even racial elements.
All unnecessary. All avoidable.
First of all, we ask again, for the zillionth time, is it asking too much of a highly- paid athlete to run- hard- the- entire 90 feet to first base when the ball is hit?
90 feet? Two or three times per game?
Some have wrapped Kelenic's lack of professionalism into a concern for the baserunner ahead of him, Nick Allen, who properly paused midway to second base to ensure that ball would not be caught on the fly.
Bull hockey. There's only rare reason for Kelenic, or any hitter, including Acuna in 2019, not to get to first base asap, until there is certainty that that ball is not in play. That rare reason is when a dribbler is hit along the first base line, and the pitcher who fields it tries to tag the hitter, who can buy a tiny bit of time for any fellow basreunners by stopping to delay the tag moment.
Second, if Acuna's goal is to help his team perform better, this was a poor way to make that happen. If his goal was to get a message to his teammate, and/ or his manager, much better to do that in private.
Acuna is a ballplayer with generational talent, and as such is a leader on his team and in his sport. But if he wants to become truly great, and extend his achievements into active clubhouse leader- which his prodigious talent would allow him to do– he can set a high standard and quietly address those whose performance or effort might occasionally fall short of the properly high standard .
And finally, Brian Snitker can own his oversight here. In a sense, his failure to do so immediately is his own version of a management mistake akin to Kelenic's lack of hustle. Unpleasant as it might have been, just a few words to Kelenic immediately following his slacker moment would have shown all– other players, other coaches and all fans– that there is a standard and that standard will be upheld.
Certainly Snitker does not have a fistful of great options for backup outfielders. And even if he had spoken to Kelenic, but had not removed him from the game, there might have been questions of a double standard. But those questions are much more easily dealt with if there was any evidence of some consequence for the offending ballplayer.
There is a management argument to be made here that each transgression in each instance does not have to be treated exactly the same, and that situations can be assessed and acted upon differently in different circumstances.
The late great John Wooden contended that giving each player the exact same type of discipline for the same transgression was in fact the surest way to unfairness. He further said that weighing circumstances and using judgement was in fact the heavy responsibility of the coach/ manager, part and parcel of his duty to the organization at large. Wooden's famous Pyramid of Success defined success as " self- satisfaction which is a direct result in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming ".
And in the grand scheme, all ball players can incorporate the timeless wisdom of Joe Dimaggio, whose words were quoted in a piece in RamblinSports.com in 2019 following Acuna's slacker moment . ("Acuna Stands and Stares...then Sits." RamblinSports.com 20 Aug 2019)
Said the Yankee Clipper, " The reason I play so hard is that somewhere out there is a kid who has never seen me play before, and I don't want to disappoint him".
That's so simply stated that it's downright elegant. And immutable. There will never not be a moment when some kid might be watching for the first time.
So hustle. Always.
And if you see a teammate fail to meet that standard, quietly remind him. And then ask him to remind you , if and when the same circumstance arises with your work. And then make certain that said circumstance never does arise. Never.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports.com