ATLANTA -- Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Braves made a huge commitment to one another on Tuesday, in the form of the eight-year, $100 million contract the club announced on Tuesday.This is the largest extension ever signed by a player with as little Major League service time as Acuna has -- 165 days -- at the time of the extension. It is also the second-largest contract ever given by the Braves, trumped only by Freddie Freeman’s current eight-year, $135 million contract.
The guaranteed portion of Acuna’s deal begins this year and will run through his 28-year-old season in 2026. This new deal also includes a $17 million option and $10 million buyout for both the 2027 and 2028 seasons. The Braves could ultimately employ the 21-year-old phenom through his 30-year-old season at a cost of $124 million, or $12.4 million annually on average.Acuna would not have been eligible for arbitration until he would have likely qualified for Super Two status prior to the 2021 season. So, the Braves are buying out those four potential arbitration years and the two seasons beyond when Acuna could have hit the free-agent market.While this certainly has the potential to be a very team-friendly deal, the Braves are making this commitment with Acuna having played just 115 games at the Major League level. The reigning National League Rookie of the Year missed a month with a knee injury last year and really didn’t get going until he homered 19 times and produced a 1.028 OPS after the All-Star break, helping lead the Braves to the NL East title.“What he did last year was just the tip of the iceberg,” Braves catcher Brian McCann said after Acuna hit his first homer of the season in Monday night’s win over the Cubs.Acuna originally signed with the Braves for $100,000 as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2014. He eventually became one of the top prospects in baseball and was called up to make his MLB debut on April 25, 2018, at just 20 years old.
Mark Bowman/MLB.com
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