MIAMI — Ronald Acuña Jr. has won a Rookie of the Year Award and a Most Valuable Player Award. He has stolen 73 bases in a season. He owns a World Series ring. As Monday night bled into Tuesday, as he looked back on Venezuela’s 4–2 win over Italy in the World Baseball Classic semifinals and ahead to its date with the United States in the final, none of those past accomplishments particularly interested him.
“I would put this as number one in my career,” he said in Spanish through an interpreter. “I love the Atlanta Braves, but before playing for the Braves, I was born in Venezuela.”
