#MLBVideos: Ronald Acuña Jr. on his friendship with Shohei Ohtani and skills he’d want from Soto, Judge & MORE!

Ronald Acuña Jr. on his friendship with Shohei Ohtani and skills he’d want from Soto, Judge & MORE!

I’m Ronald Jr. and this is office hour. Are you kidding me? They got him. The ball is history. Number 70 right there, folks. And a season unlike any other in Major League Baseball history. Fernando Tatis Jr. said to us, “If he could take one thing from you, it would be your swagger, your flow.” What do you think about that? That guys like him want your flow. He got the swagger, too. He got everything. Yeah. Flow, defense, hitting, everything. If I can’t take one thing from him, I take the swagger, too. You’re going to take his swagger. You guys are just trading swagger. Okay. I love that. That’s awesome. Part of your flow, your swagger on the field celebrations. Okay. We’ve got this one. We’ve got some of these. Do you have a favorite? And then second part, will there be a new one in 2026? I’m going to think about it. Yeah. I need I need to see couple cop from NBA to to see new celebration. So they’re all from the NBA. Every one of them. We have the silencer. Do you have a favorite that you’ve done? Jarang, I think I stray. I love I love all the celebration. Silencer. I stray. Do you like the NBA though? Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a team? No. No. I’m LeBron fan. There’s a story from a couple years ago or a year ago when you got to 30 was also the same day that you got officially married. Is that correct? Yeah. And you hit a grand slam I think to meet that fe. Can explain that day if you can just quickly like get married in the morning. Grand slam. We got married in the morning. We go after we go to the to the Dodger stadium. We training and first piece we I think I hit a B to the right field and then SAB I hit a grand and I feel amazing man. Quite a day for you right? Best feeling ever getting married or hitting a home run. We the question this is a fan question too was how far can you really throw a baseball? And I don’t not saying you have to say yardage wise or whatever but watch this play flatfooted. I’m sure you’ve watched it a hundred times, but react to this. This will already put Strider over 50 pitches here. High and deep to right over toward the line. Akuna’s got it. Tagging from second is BB Boss. Whoa, they got him. How many times you seen that throw? A lot. A lot. Yeah. Is that one of your best ones, you think? No. No, I don’t think so. I think my favorite throw I think 2021 in Pittsburgh. I think the that’s the the same thing. This one is literally flatfooted throwing to third. I mean that is insane. Do you think you had a chance the moment you let it go? You’re like, “Oh, I got No, just throw. See what happens. Yeah, let’s see what happen. But I mean I feel like can you you think from home plate you could throw it out of the stadium? Yes, 100%. Easy. Yeah, easy. Left or center? You think you can get it to center? Left, center, and right? Doesn’t matter. Yeah, it doesn’t matter. Out of there. Yeah. Over the Green Monster. Yeah, probably easier. Shorter. He’s shorter. Ronald’s five favorite players to watch excluding yourself. Otani. Okay. Tatis, Julio, Harpe, and respect. It’s a good list. I want to know, this is a simple question. What does baseball mean to you? And I ask you specifically because you’re a guy who will play all year long. You might get banged up, bumps and bruises, then you’ll go play winter ball. I mean, like what how do you describe what baseball means to Ronald Duna Jr.? To me, it’s a lot, man. It’s my passion. It’s my my life. When I go there, when I cross that line, my my my mindset sh everything. I don’t listen nobody. Just baseball and me. That’s it. Myself. That’s it. And I love when I when I go there. I love to compete every time. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a great answer. It’s everything. Yeah. Everything for me. You know, you have a brother who’s in the league. You’ve got other brothers who are professional. What has that been like? You’re so young, but you’re this big brother vet to them. You got to play on the same field, you know, as Luis Hanell earlier. I mean, can you describe that to the fans? How cool that was? Yeah, I remember that moment when we I give you hot to hang and I can imagine that moment. Yeah, because that’s dreams come true for us. We when we grow together always dream with the moment this year we we made that moment. Yeah. Who’s faster though? I think him. Whoa. Yeah. Okay. Respect. Respect. There are more Akunas on the way though, right? I mean Okay. Two more. Two more. All right. But you’re a big bro. You’re just All right. What else are you good at besides baseball? Basketball. Yeah, basketball, I think. So, do people play basketball in Venezuela? Is this Is it popular now? Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, you’re pretty good. You’re pretty good at Yeah, I can play I can play basketball. Okay. Couple rapid fire questions for you. Ronald Luna Jr.’s favorite music artist right now is Bonnie. Your favorite athlete? I think you already told us, but your favorite athlete right now is You can answer yourself. Otani, can I say myself? Otani, you you’re a big Otani fan. You’re saying it’s so even you an MVP 30, 60, you’re watching this guy and you’re just like, whoa, what’s right? I mean, like the rest of us, you guys talked, have you spoken to? Yeah, sometime. Yeah. Yeah. How crazy is it to an average fan? You have We just talked about your arm. You could probably be a great pitcher too if you wanted to. That he can do that. Not like him, but he can throw. But he can do that. He could throw 102 and then hit 50 homers. How crazy is that to him? That’s crazy, man. He can steal 60 B, hit a 60 homer, throw 10 strike out in one game. That’s crazy. So, he’s your favorite athlete right now. A road city you like playing in. What’s Ronald? Miami. I love how quick he Okay. And then when you’re not playing baseball, what is Ronald doing? Nothing. Nothing. We did this game with Tatis. This is why he chose your skill. One skill you’d take from these guys. Vlatty Jr. Power. Tatis. I take the swagger onto who was just here a minute ago. The discipline when he go to the play. Mhm. I take this. Big Aaron Judge. Hitting. Just in general. All hitting. Last one. Your friend show Otani. Well, you can only take one thing though. One team. Yeah. Beachy. Do you collect anything? Uh, nothing. You don’t ask for autographs or nothing. Do you take any of your own milestone stuff? First homers, that type of stuff. I take my 70 bucks. But you don’t you don’t care to be like jersey swaps, any of that? No. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. You got some jerseys. Okay. You have a you have a favorite. I got I got a lot. I got Tatis Mes Otani Josh. It’s a pretty good collection so far. Wow. Harper. All right. My last question for you is, do you have a favorite moment of your great career so far? One thing could be the bag that you’re talking about. One thing that comes to mind that you watch the most or replay the most in your mind. My favorite moment from my career. Yeah. The first first homer when I when I come back. It’s my favorite moment. Yeah. Yeah. Do you did you black out going around the bases? Do you remember? Yeah, man. I can’t hear nobody because the too loud when I run when I run the bass that’s too loud. Yeah. Yeah. That’s my favorite moment from my career. I thank you for watching this.

Ronald Acuña Jr. joins us on this edition of MLB Office Hours, talking about his relationship with fellow NL MVP winner Shohei Ohtani, favorite moments during his electric career, and MORE!

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