Ronald Acuña Jr. Has Answered Questions About His Hustle and Now His Teammates Need to Help Out

Ronald Acuña Jr received some flak from his Atlanta Braves teammates and baseball pundits after Game 1 of the NLDS when his lack of hustle, a prevalent dynamic of his otherwise flawless game, emerged when he failed to leg out a double because he was ball-watching (again).

Freddie Freeman and Ozzie Albies proceeded to call out the young superstar, and Acuña has more than answered their doubts with a tremendous display in all facets of the game since the backlash ensued.

But he needs some help. Since Game 1, he's followed the rules and excelled, but his Braves teammates have lagged dangerously far behind. If those in the clubhouse who dogged him, like Freeman, don't step up now, the club could be headed for an earlier-than-expected start to their offseason.

Acuña, fresh off a 4-for-5 showing in Game 4 on Monday, is now slashing .500/.579/1.000 in the NLDS.

Care to guess what other bats in Atlanta's lineup are doing? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Let's highlight some of their abysmal averages thus far, shall we?

Ozzie Albies is hitting .250, which is somehow the best of the bench. Freddie Freeman, a few days removed from lambasting Acuña for his lack of hustle, is batting a woeful .125 after striking out three times on Monday. Josh Donaldson's average sits at .133, and Matt Joyce's is the worst with a .111 mark.

If not for Dansby Swanson (hitting .500) and Adam Duvall's combined late-game heroics, this series might have been over already.

Acuña's base-running deserved the ridicule it received, but he answered the call with superb play in the days that followed. It's time his teammates play their part. If they don't the, Braves will suffer a premature end to a remarkable campaign in which they won 97 games and were deemed genuine threats to come out of the National League.