Masters of friendly trash talk, Soto and Acuña go jab for jab
It may be time to provide Juan Soto and Ronald Acuña Jr. their very own buddy comedy. Sure, they may be star rivals in a packed National League, however there’s nothing higher than some pleasant ribbing between two of the very best younger gamers in baseball.
Sitting facet by facet within the stands for an interview with Eduardo Perez on Sunday Night Baseball, Soto and Acuña performed off each other like a seasoned comedy duo, particularly after they had been requested about who has the longer residence run trot. Soto wasted no time in pointing on the flashy bat flip aficionado beside him.
“He takes two hours,” Soto quipped. “He waves to the dugout, he handshakes the first-base coach, waves to the bullpen, gives two hops at second, rounding third base he goes left, he goes right, he jumps up.”
Soto was referring partially to Acuña’s signature Euro step celebration, however the Braves star was not taking place with out getting a number of photographs of his personal in.
“But you sit there talking to the catcher the whole time,” Acuña fired again. “And you didn’t do that when you were in Washington?”
Their days as NL East rivals could also be within the rearview, however Acuña clearly did not neglect a few of Soto’s personal prolonged journeys across the bases. Though it wasn’t in opposition to his Braves, Acuña may need been considering of Soto famously carrying his bat to first base with him after homering in Game 6 of the 2019 World Series, a transfer that was mimicking what Alex Bregman had achieved earlier within the sport.
“But that was just one time,” Soto mentioned. “Out of the 40 home runs you hit, 39 times you do this celebration.”
We’ll give Soto the advantage of the doubt that this was a little bit of a backhanded praise, acknowledging Acuña’s 40-homer season in 2019, a mark that Soto has but to succeed in.
Acuña needed to bury his face in his fingers to maintain from cracking up throughout Soto’s rant. In the curiosity of, properly, info, their residence run trot instances really do not differ an incredible deal. Soto’s common in 2022 was 27.67 seconds, whereas Acuña’s was 28.92. Both of them bought across the bases quite a bit faster as rookies in 2018 (Soto: 23.14 seconds, Acuña: 24.59 seconds), however one thing about turning right into a star and perennial MVP contender makes your house run trots just a bit bit lengthier. And for good cause.
There had been some moments of flattery all through the interview as properly, together with Soto marveling at Acuña’s velocity and the Braves star admitting the Padres slugger can “hit it wherever he wants.” But it at all times got here again to pleasant trash discuss, like their joint recap of Acuña robbing Soto of additional bases on Friday night time.
“I told him, ‘you can’t hit it to me, because I’ll catch it. Hit a homer.'”
And what did Soto exit and do the next day? Take a guess. Here’s to many extra years of those two going at it, each on the sphere and behind the mic.
