Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. is your 2023 National League Most Valuable Player.
The BBWAA announced that Acuña Jr. won the 2023 NL MVP unanimously. Amid a talented group of finalists, the Braves superstar was so outstanding that nobody could make an argument for anybody else.
Acuña received all 30 first-place votes to give him a grand total of 420 points. Mookie Betts was a unanimous second-place choice, meaning he reached 270 points. Freddie Freeman, the last Brave to win the NL MVP award, finished with 227 points on 17 third-place votes and 13 fourth-place votes.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is your 2023 National League MVP! pic.twitter.com/m7CDmrsLxQ
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) November 16, 2023
According to the BBWAA, Acuña is the eighth Brave to win the award. He joins elite company that features Freeman, Chipper Jones, Terry Pendleton, Hank Aaron, Bob Elliott, and Dale Murphy, who won it twice.
Additionally, he’s also the eighth unanimous winner in the award’s history. Bryce Harper, Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Ken Caminiti, Jeff Bagwell, Mike Schmidt, and Orlando Cepeda were the previous seven.
This past season, Acuña put together a historic season. He hit .337 while slashing .416 and .596, good for an OPS of 1.012. He hit 41 homers and stole 73 bases, joining the elusive and exclusive 40-70 club.
In all, it was one of the best season in Major League Baseball history. So Acuña getting the unanimous NL MVP crown was to be expected. We’ll see what he has for an encore in 2024.
