NORTH PORT, Fla. — Ronald Acuña Jr. is back where he belongs.
The Braves’ face-of-the-franchise, uber talent will return to the leadoff spot in 2026 as expected, manager Walt Weiss confirmed Sunday. Weiss, who has served as bench coach throughout Acuña’s career, embraces having Acuña attack the opposing starting pitcher from the get-go. The right fielder himself also prefers to hit first.
“You could make a case (for him to hit) one, two or three,” Weiss said. “And I wanted to make sure I had a conversation with him, too. That’s part of the equation. What does he really want to do? And he loves leading off. I love that he sets the tone right out of the gate. People say, ‘Well, leadoff, nobody on base.’ You have to remember: The first time through the order is when the lineup is linear. After that, it’s circular. It just goes around and around.
“We’ll try to have some guys in that 9-spot to be on base for him, that we can do some things with. We’ll try to create some traffic for him that way after the first at-bat. But the leadoff spot has become part of his identity. He’s been really, really good at it, and I just happen to like him there, too.”
Acuña has been one of the game’s most prolific leadoff men since his 2018 rookie campaign, even setting the career franchise record for leadoff homers in his third season.
The Braves considered him the ultimate catalyst for their offense. And Acuña has cherished his role as the engineer. There’s no hiding from him in leadoff.
His 37 career leadoff homers are tied with Ichiro Suzuki for 13th all-time. Acuña, 28, trails only Jose Altuve (41), Kyle Schwarber (46), Mookie Betts (52) and George Springer (60) among active players; those four debuted in 2015 or earlier, multiple seasons before Acuña’s April 2018 summoning. Rickey Henderson is the all-time leader with 81.
Overall, Acuña has hit .297 with a .913 OPS when leading off a game (606 at-bats).
“It’s tough (to start a game against someone like Acuña),” Braves starter Chris Sale said. “You saw it in his first at-bat back last year (when he homered). Sometimes as a starting pitcher, you get on the mound, and you could have a great bullpen session, a great pregame warmup, but once those lights flick on and you’re on the game mound, it can be a little bit different.
“There are some times you’re still navigating through the first inning, where your arm slot is, trying to figure out — and you’re talking about arguably one of the best hitters in the league right out of the gate. And you know he’s ready to swing. He’s not going up there trying to see anything. He’s trying to do some damage.
“It’s a lot of fun starting a game off with him. Obviously, our fans love him. He’s a Brave icon. Just the energy he brings, even (Sunday), you see him walking up to the plate and people are losing their minds. … You better be prepared.”
Acuña’s lineup status has rarely been questioned. Former manager Brian Snitker had moved Acuña a couple of times earlier in his career, including hitting him cleanup during a point in 2019. Snitker later shifted him back up and called himself dumb for putting Acuña anywhere else.
But the offensive inadequacies of 2025 called for drastic measures, and the Braves again bumped Acuña down the lineup, hoping it’d bolster the offense. The team had another viable leadoff candidate, Jurickson Profar, who thrived for a couple of months during the second half in that role.
Acuña ended up with 208 plate appearances hitting third, outpacing his time at leadoff (189 plate appearances). The Braves were essentially in a desperate place, trying anything and everything to awaken their lineup.
They don’t feel that’ll be the case in 2026.
“I feel good about our offense,” Weiss said. “I think everybody is saying that in February, but I feel good about our offense. I think we’re going to look at last year as an outlier.”
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