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Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. says he won't miss Freddie Freeman

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Updated  April 7, 2022 8:06pm EDT
Atlanta Braves
FOX 5 Atlanta

Braves' Ronald Acuna says there's "nothing" he will miss about Freddie Freeman

Acuna Jr. recently took to social media and made comments to a journalist where he acknowledged internal rifts in his relationship with former Braves player Freddie Freeman.

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Braves stunned the baseball world in March when they opted to trade for Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson instead of re-sign Freddie Freeman, one of the faces of the franchise.

The defending World Series champions now head into the new season without Freeman, taking on the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day at Truist Park. But it wouldn't be Opening Day without a little drama, and as it turns out not every one on the Braves bench is missing their former teammate.

In an Instagram live interview on Wednesday night with Dominican journalist Yancen Pujol, Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. addressed Freeman's departure.

According to Pujols, Acuña said that he won't miss Freeman and that he didn't speak with him often. He also claimed Freeman had been unkind during his rookie season.

People were shocked to hear this, naturally unaware until now how the player felt about his former teammate given Freeman's popularity. FOX 5 had the chance to catch up with Acuña prior to Thursday's home opener. He says he feels the entire situation, everything he said, was taken out of context.

"I think it was just exaggerated and blown out of proportion by the media," Acuña said. "What I talked about was what happened in 2018. What should I miss about someone who's on another team?"

When asked if he regretted his word choice, Acuña doubled down, saying a couple of times that he did not regret anything that he said. The MLB stated that he did not need to go into detail on these events from back in his rookie year and that the focus should be on defending the World Series Championship. 

Acuña is still on the injured list as he rehabs his knee after tearing his ACL last July. 

Freeman left the Braves for the Los Angeles Dodgers

Speaking to MLB Network, Freeman was asked about how he felt hearing about how Acuña felt about him. Freeman said he had no issues with his former teammate. 

"I love Ronald Acuña. I think he’s great for the game of baseball."

Clubhouse dynamics aside, it will be interesting to see when these two cross paths again on the field.

FOX 5's Justin Felder contributed to this report.