It’s official, and it’s also not surprising: Even though Ronald Acuna Jr. remains otherworldly for the Atlanta Braves, he is the most underpaid player in Major League Baseball.

He hits for average.

He smacks pitches to other universes.

Nobody makes more spectcular catches in right field, and his throws are missiles that usually hit their target while his legs contain jets. In addition, when it comes to charisma, he owns the patent among his peers.

There also is this: Acuna didn’t return to the Braves this season until May 23 after he missed most of the 2024 season due to a complete tear in his left anterior cruciate ligament. He conintues to play like the National League Most Valuable Player that he was during the 2023 season.

Just $17 million per year for this guy?

Some of us saw it coming.

As I mentioned during a Forbes.com piece on August 17, 2022, when the Braves signed Acuna’s teammate Michael Harris to a contract of up to $102 million over 10 years (Harris is making $8 million this season): Congratuations to Braves officials, because this Harris signing is what they do: They continue to move closer to yearly dominance by tying their 20-something youth of considerable talent to long-term contracts, often to the financial disadvantage of those players.

Acuna was among the first in that category.

“You better not go get a beer or anything because you might miss something cool,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told me and other media folks when Acuna returned to the lineup. “He’s that kind of force in the game. He’s going to energize everybody.”

Acuna even was just named NL Player of the Week after hitting .619 with three home runs, six RBIs and a 1.788 OPS.

Nevertheless, what Acuna wants the most in the near future – like during early July at Truist Park, where the Braves play home games – is to participate in both the Baseball All-Star Game for the fifth time in his eighth Major League seasons and the Home Run Derby for the third time.

“I want to make the All-Star roster this year and every year,” Acuna told Mark Bowman of MLB.com. “Obviously, this year I feel a little extra incentive with the game being in Atlanta.”

So far, so great for Acuna, the 27-year-old wonder of 6-feet, 205 pounds and eternal joy whenever he takes the field. He began the Braves’ four-game road trip to New York Monday night against the Mets by reaching base in 18 straight games.

During Acuna’s 26 games this season through Sunday, he hit .391 with eight home runs, 15 RBIs and a .504 on-base percentage. He leaped against a wall for a game-saving catch, and he dove across grass for others. He threw out two baserunners from deep in the outfield. He even ignored his surgically repaired legs (He also tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in 2021) to go 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts, and this is a guy who swipped an MLB high 73 during his MVP season.

We’re back to that salary.

Acuna has made only $17 million per season, not only this season, but since 2023, and he’ll continue to do so through the 2028 season.

For perspective, Acuna isn’t anywhere near the Forbes’ top ten highest-paid players for this season. New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto leads the way on that list at $61.8 million, and Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa and his salary of $37.3 million are at the bottom.

All of this for Acuna became inevitable in April 2019 when Braves officials likely giggled in the shadows after they signed the signed the Venezuelan player to one of the worst contracts in MLB history for a potential all-everything performer.

This still is unbelievable – not that those Braves officials continued their epidemic of those team-friendly deals with players, but that neither Acuna nor anybody in his financial orbit could see beyond the present.

Back then, six months after Acuna hinted as the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year of becoming Willie Mays at the plate, Rickey Henderson on the bases and Roberto Clemente in right field, he agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth $100 million. It meant he would remain with the Braves through the 2026 season, and it included club options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons.

The options were each worth $17 million, and the deal also included a $10 million buyout of the option years.

Acuna was 21 with all of that potential.

Now, six years later, Acuna has gone from potential to the most dynamic MLB player not named Shohei Ohtani.

Come to think of it, Acuna tops Ohtani in that area. Even though Ohtani is an All-Star designated hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers with the capacity to become an All-Star pitcher at the same time, he can’t run or field like Acuna.

OK, maybe Ohtani can do both.

But maybe Acuna can pitch.

This is for sure: Acuna makes just $17 million per year despite everything, and some of us saw coming.