Ronald Acuña Jr. loves making history. In a huge road matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves superstar outfielder came to play — and get married. His latest feat after notching the first 30-homer, 60-stolen bases season in MLB history is one of the hardest hits in recent memory.

With neither team yet to strike through the first two innings, Acuña took Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan waaayyyy deep for the only run he surrendered in his four innings of work. He hit it 454 feet to center field onto the top of the batter's eye. His 32nd home run of the season traveled 121.2 miles per hour, the hardest-hit ball of the 2023 MLB season by a good margin and the third-hardest hit home run in the Statcast era (since 2015). Overall, only five balls in the Statcast era have gone faster.

Acuña's blast helped the Braves win 4-2 in the 10-inning affair, securing a win in the four-game series against their biggest competitor for the National League pennant. He knew he had a mammoth home run once it left his bat, according to Jill Painter Lopez of the Associated Press.

Article Continues Below

“I never imagined that was going to be the exit velocity on it,” Acuña said through an interpreter, via AP. “But yeah, I hit it hard…[My teammates] asked if that was all I had, and I said, ‘I think so.’”

The second spot on the maximum exit velocity leaderboard is a three-way tie between Shohei Ohtani, Giancarlo Stanton and Acuña's teammate at first base, Matt Olson. They have each hit a ball that registered 118.6 miles per hour. The difference between Acuña and them is the same difference between them and 15th-place Yordan Alvarez.

Acuña and Dodgers superstar outfielder Mookie Betts are neck-and-neck in the race for the NL MVP. Betts has better-hitting stats and grades out better in defensive metrics like outs above average and defensive runs saves. But Acuña doesn’t trail him by much and has put together one of the most prolific base-stealing seasons in a long time. His historic production is not at all going unnoticed and could earn him some hardware.