Ronald Acuna, Jr. 
The Marlins and Braves played the final game of a four-game set at Sun Trust Park in Atlanta on Wednesday night, August 15, 2018, and Atlanta Braves rookie phenom Ronald Acuna, Jr. came in on a historically rare hot streak. The 20-year-old had homered in five straight games, and led off the last three games with a home run. More to point, he homered twice against the Marlins on Tuesday night.
All of that from a rookie when Miami starter Jose Urena deliberately drilled the young leftfielder with the first pitch of the ballgame, a 97 mph fastball aimed straight at Acuna's elbow, forcing him to leave the game.
I'm sure baseball fans all throughout the USA were thrilled by Acuna's exploits and saddened by the despicable action of the Miami pitcher.
It's a sad day for baseball when something like this happens, especially to such a young and exciting athlete who just wants to play ball. If MLB is serious about preventing this sort of behavior they must act swiftly to severely penalize pitcher Urena. They simply should not turn a blind eye to this as they did to the extensive use of performance enhancing drug use among players for so many years. Shame on MLB if they don't act to suspend Urena now.
FOLLOW UP: Urena was ultimately given a light six day suspension by Joe Torre. C'mon, Joe. This is equivalent to a one day suspension because pitchers don't play every day and will mean that Urena will miss just one start. Deliberately throwing a 97.5 mph hard ball at another human being is unacceptable. Shame on MLB!
This photo was taken by me on August 5, 2018 at Citi Field where the New York Metropolitans (Mets) hosted the surging Atlanta Braves in a game won by the visiting team.
Professor Bop on 2018-08-17 03:22:22
Tagged: , PROFESSOR BOP , DR. JAZZ , OLYMPUS SH-50 , RONALD ACUNA, JR. , ATLANTA BRAVES , BASEBALL , MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL , AMERICA'S PASTTIME , AMERICANA , NEW YORK METS , CITI FIELD , ATHLETE , ATHLETICS , SPORTS , MLB
