Fire Frogs' Acuna sparks offensive barrage

The youngest player in the Florida State State did some substantial damage at the plate Tuesday.
Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta's seventh-ranked prospect, drove in a career-best five runs as part of a 3-for-5 day in Class A Advanced Florida's 22-2 rout of Palm Beach at Osceola County Stadium on Tuesday.

Box score
The 19-year-old outfielder was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat, but the Fire Frogs batted around and he cleared the bases by lining a triple to right field as part of a 10-run inning.
From there, the Venezuelan native singled up the middle, reached on a fielding error by second baseman Darren Seferina and grounded out to the mound in his next three at-bats before capping his big night with a two-run homer to center in the eighth.
The long ball was Acuna's second in eight games. He hit four of them through 40 games last season in the South Atlantic League.
Apart from a brief rehab stint in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, Acuna spent most of his time with Class A Rome in 2016, producing a .311/.387/.432 slash line with 18 RBIs. That performance earned him an invite to Braves Spring Training, where he opened some eyes.
"Everybody said, 'He reminds me of Andruw [Jones],'" Atlanta manager Brian Snitker told MiLB.com. "Andruw probably had more power, but there are a lot of similarities."
In 13 Grapefruit League games, Acuna went 8-for-27 (.296) with three extra-base hits.

"I'm very proud and honored that they gave me an invitation," he told MiLB.com through a translator. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting any of that. I was coming in with the expectation that I was going to the Minor League camp."
Despite the big game, Acuna still has to overcome some growing pains in the Florida State League, where he has struck out 25 times in 16 games. He didn't whiff at all Tuesday.
"His skill set is really good," Snitker said. "He's a talented kid and I really liked the way he made adjustments on the fly during counts this spring. His aptitude and feel for the game is really advanced for his age. He's good in the outfield and he can fly. He's got all five tools. Now he just needs to play."
The next two youngest players in the league, Braves No. 12 prospect Austin Riley and No. 19 Ricardo Sánchez -- both 20 years old -- also chipped in for Florida. Riley blasted a two-run homer and Sanchez (1-2) allowed two unearned runs on four hits and one walk while striking out five over six innings for the win.
Atlanta's No. 23 prospect Alex Jackson and Tyler Neslony also went yard for the Fire Frogs with Alay Lago adding four RBIs. It was Jackson's fourth homer in six games.
St. Louis' No. 7 prospectMagneuris Sierra went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Palm Beach.