ATLANTA — In an Instagram Live interview Wednesday night, Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuña said he won't miss departed icon Freddie Freeman.
"Me? Nothing," Acuña said when asked what he would miss about Freeman, according to a translation from Spanish-speaking journalist Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times.
Acuña touched on a number of topics in the interview, conducted by Dominican journalist Yancen Pujols. Acuña, who is from Venezuela, seemed to indicate that there was conflict between him and Freeman.
"When you come up as a rookie, there's always somebody who wants to stick it to you," Acuña said, per Castillo. "You come with your swagger from the minor leagues. You do your eye black ... your sunglasses, your hat a little crooked. A lot of people look at it as wrong, and I don't look at it as wrong because it's part of the game. So, a lot of veterans stuck it to me when I came up in 2018. A lot of them stuck it to me."
Acuña said he never spoke up because he was a rookie, according to the translation. In 2018, he won NL Rookie of the Year after posting a .917 on-base plus slugging percentage and hitting 26 home runs.
"I'm not saying I'm a veteran today, but no one is going to come and take something off my face today," he said in the Instagram Live conversation.
Acuña's agent, Peter Greenberg of Rep 1 Baseball, declined comment when reached by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday morning. Both he and the Braves were aware of Acuña's comments.
But at 12:50 a.m. Thursday, in response to a tweet about his Instagram Live comments, Acuña wrote in all caps: "I NEVER SAY THAT."
In March, Freeman signed a six-year, $162 million contract with the Dodgers. For the first time since 2011, the Braves will have a new first baseman on opening day.
The Braves offered Freeman a five-year contract worth $140 million, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, but the sides did not come to an agreement. The Braves soon pivoted and traded for Matt Olson, which signaled Freeman's departure.
Acuña in 2019 agreed to an eight-year, $100 million contract extension with the Braves and is signed through 2026. He tore his ACL last summer and is expected to be back in the first week of May.
