2024 Topps Now #111 - Ronald Acuna Jr.

04/22/24 / Swipes Atlanta Braves Record for Most Career SBs

They say that speed never goes into a slump in Baseball, which seems to be something Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. lives by. After singling to left field in the opening frame, the reigning NL MVP Award winner was determined to keep the pressure on the Miami Marlins. Acuna Jr. saw his opportunity and took off to seal second base. It was the 190th of his career, passing Rafael Furcal's mark of 189 for the most by a Braves player since the franchise moved to Atlanta in 1966.

2024 Topps Now #103 - Ronald Acuna Jr.

04/20/24 / Moves into Braves Top 10 in Career Steals

Ronald Acuna Jr. has been a headache for opponents when on the base paths his entire career. Saturday was no different as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Texas Rangers, 5-2. Acuna got to work early, swiping third base at the bottom of the first inning. The steal marked the 189th stolen base of his career, tying him with Rafael Furcal for 10th on the Braves all-time list.

2018 Topps Living Set Ronald Acuna #19

The mail man brought me a fat padded mailer today and I couldn't be happier with what was inside. When Topps launched their Living Set earlier this year, I wasn't sure what to make of it. $7.99 for a single card or $14.99 for the 3 cards released that week...not too bad. After all I've spent $9.99 on single Topps Now cards in the past. Nick Markakis was the first Braves player to be featured in the set...but I passed. I don't care that his card is trading for big dollars on eBay currently, but now that I have a card in hand I realize how beautiful they actually are.

The Braves' rookie phenom, Ronald Acuna, was called up from AAA Gwinett on 04/25/18 and has made an immediate impact. I don't have many RCs of his yet so I decided to jump on this Living Set card. While I wish they had used a different design, I love the card. At first glance it may appear to be just another Heritage type card, however the card stock used is a little thinner than Heritage. The other big difference is the photo isn't a photo, but a drawing of the player. These cards are really beautiful in hand. I'm starting to see why more and more people are jumping on this set and trying to build it now. That's not for me, but I will be cherry picking a few players moving forward.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the idea behind this set. Yea or nay? Have you bought any Living Set cards? If so, do you like them? If you haven't bought any, why?

Pack Break: 2018 Bowman

The wait and the search for 2018 Bowman is over. Releasing yesterday, 04/25/18, I finally found a local store that had them in stock. I practiced some preservation and just grabbed one value hanger pack. I don't usually buy a lot of Bowman since I'm not into prospecting, but with Ozzie Albies and newly called up Ronald Acuna having rookie cards in this years product I'm more interested than normal.

3 cards into the 22 card pack and I landed an Ohtani RC. I have to be honest
that I don't know much about this guy, despite his presence all over the hobby and social media. I saw today while watching the afternoon Braves/Reds game that FS1 is showing the Yankees/ Angels series starting Saturday so I may have to tune in to check this guy out. I'm unsure what to do w/ this Ohtani RC right now. Should I trade it for something Braves related? Add it to my eBay store? Or just hold onto it for now?

In the middle of the pack were a few shiny chrome cards, one of which was this insert of Ronald Acuna himself! Man did I pick a good pack to be my first pack of 2018 Bowman!

Here is the rest of the pack breakdown:

003 Corey Kluber
023 Richard Urena
035 Erick Fedde
049 Shohei Ohtani
059 Walker Buehler
070 Parker Bridwell
079 Buster Posey
086 Rougned Odor
097 Gary Sanchez
100 Kris Bryant
BP044 James Kaprielian
BP046 Cristian Pache
BP063 Dylan Cozens
BP092 Ryan Vilade
BP106 D.J. Stewart
BP131 MacKenzie Gore
BCP007 Carter Kiebook
BCP013 Sam Hilliard
BCP038 Mitch Keller
BCP047 Ibandel Isabel
BTP-84 Taylor Trammell - Top 100
#-RA Ronald Acuna - #Bowman Trending

The Call Up - Ronald Acuna Edition

Ronald Acuna finally gets his change to show the majors just how good he is and how he's deserving of the top prospect in baseball tag he's been given. I know I for one am looking forward to watching tonight's game against the Reds. Lord knows the Braves will benefit from his glove and bat...now if only we could solve our bullpen woes!