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Look away, Kansas City Royals fans. You almost had a future MVP well before drafting Bobby Witt Jr.
While speaking on the “Just Baseball” podcast, ESPN’s MLB insider Jeff Passan revealed a superstar was originally supposed to sign with the Royals.
Passan was asked if any other “what if” deals were supposed to happen in the past, similar to the one that now Orioles top prospect Samuel Basallo had agreed to with the New York Yankees before the deal ultimately fell through.
“I mean, Ronald Acuña Jr. was supposed to sign with the Kansas City Royals I think,” Passan stated. Passan also revealed several teams made a late run at Juan Soto prior to the Washington Nationals finally securing him.
Acuña was obviously not signed by Kansas City and was instead signed by the Atlanta Braves as an international free agent in 2014 when he was just 16. He was given a $100,000 signing bonus and made his MLB just four years later at 20-years old.
Acuña to the Royals is the type of what-if move that would’ve had quite the snowball effect on MLB. Kansas City probably never drafts Bobby Witt Jr.; the Braves probably never win a World Series in 2021. You could go on and on about all of the possibilities and scenarios if Acuña ended up somewhere different.
Outside of Acuña and Soto, there are more than likely several teams that almost secured star players but weren’t able to. Braves fans are certainly glad that their organization was the one to originally sign Acuña as well as lock him down through potentially the 2028 season.
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