The Atlanta Braves have had a solid start to the 2026 MLB regular season, currently sitting at 3-2 after Tuesday night's defeat against the Athletics at home. It's been a quiet start for Ronald Acuna Jr., the former NL MVP, but fans are hoping that the star will shake off the rust sooner rather than later.

One thing that fans have noticed this year is that, after a hit, the team has moved to a new celebration, imitating a head-scratching motion once they reach a base.

Now, Acuna has revealed where the strange celebration has its origins.

“[Michael] Harris [II],” said Acuna, when asked who deserves credit for the celebration, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

Harris also spoke on what went into creating the gesture.

“There's no, like, true meaning,” Harris said. “It's just something we played around with. We didn't really know what we wanted to do going into the games. I don't know. We just did that in the dugout.”

“…The last week of Spring Training, we were trying to figure it out,” he added. “Nobody had anything. We didn't have anything going into Opening Day. But then that happened, and we just kept using it. It was just a game-time thing.”

The Braves will be hoping to use the celebration a lot this year, as the team looks to bounce back from a dreadful 2025 season that saw them miss the playoffs altogether.
Atlanta currently has plenty of question marks in the pitching rotation due to injury, and the bats will certainly need to wake up in full force, especially early on this season, in order to weather the storm and get Atlanta back into contention in the NL playoff race.