Comedian Roy Wood Jr. on Ronald Acuna Jr.'s base-stealing prowess: "Wearing gold chains makes you faster"
Ronald Acuna Jr. had a season for the ages in 2023. Besides his 41 home runs, the Atlanta Braves slugger’s 73 stolen bases set a modern day franchise record - a benchmark previously set by Otix Nixon (72) in 1991.
On Saturday night, Major League Baseball announced the 2023 All-MLB team, along with the AL and NL recipients of this year’s Hank Aaron Award. For the first time, these formalities were carried out in a live ceremony. The event was hosted by comedian Roy Wood Jr.
During the show, Woods presented a hilarious analogy to explain Acuna Jr.’s exceptional base-stealing prowess that was on display throughout the season. He said:
“Ronald stole 73 bases this year. And I think from watching him this year, I think we learned one fundamental truth. That is, wearing gold chains makes you faster. Doubt me all you want. I’ve done the research people. He stole 73 bases, he wears gold chains.
"Look at [Esteury] Ruiz in Oakland, 67 - gold chain. Elle de la Cruz, fast as hell - gold chain. Jazz Chisholm - two gold chains! Rickey Henderson - gold chain… You’ve got to wear a chain.”
Ronald Acuna Jr., along with teammates Spencer Strider and Austin Riley, headlined a list of five Braves players elected to this year’s All-MLB Team.
Wood went on to jokingly warn everyone that if Riley shows up in a Cuban link next season, it's over for the rest of the league.
Ronald Acuna Jr., Shohei Ohtani win the 2023 Hank Aaron Award
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Shohei Ohtani, two standouts from the 2023 season, were named winners of this year’s NL and AL Hank Aaron Award, respectively.
This award is decided via fan balloting, which is combined with votes from a panel of Hall of Famers and former winners. This year’s panel included the likes of Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, and more.
Last month, Acuna and Ohtani were crowned MVP of their respective leagues in unanimous fashion. Acuna’s .336 batting average was second in the NL, while his 149 runs, 217 hits, and 73 stolen bases were all MLB bests.
Starting pitchers who earned All-MLB selections included the likes of Gerrit Cole, Zac Gallen, Blake Snell and Josh Hader.
Acuna, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Corbin Carroll all made the first team. Aaron Judge, Rangers’ Adolis Garcia and Astros’ Kyle Tucker made it to the second team.