Ronald Acuna will make his home debut Friday night for the Braves, and a first-place team will occupy the home dugout at SunTrust Park. The Braves expect those factors to be a boon for attendance and No. 13 jersey sales.
Ticket sales for this weekend’s three-game series against the San Francisco Giants accelerated as soon as the Braves promoted Acuna, a 20-year-old outfielder ranked as baseball’s consensus top prospect, from the minor leagues last week. By early this week, No. 13 Acuna jerseys lined the front windows of the Braves’ Clubhouse Store at their stadium.
Braves president and CEO Derek Schiller, who runs the business side of the team, said he expects “at or near capacity” crowds for at least the first two games of the series against the Giants.
“Acuna joining the team is certainly one reason for it,” Schiller said. “But I would also tell you I think a lot of it has to do with the overall performance of the team, as well as some other individual highlights, not the least of which would be the way Ozzie Albies has played.
“We’re just kind of coming together as a team and playing a lot better than perhaps some of the prognosticators thought we would and also in a highly energetic and fun way. We’re winning games in a method and with a conviction that has gotten a lot of people very excited.”
The Braves return home on a five-game winning streak that has boosted their record to 19-11 and given them a 1-1/2-game lead in the NL East.
Schiller encouraged fans planning to attend this weekend’s series to buy tickets and parking passes in advance online. He said standing-room-only tickets will be be put on sale for any game in which all seats are sold.
“I would estimate we’re likely going to end up doing that Friday,” Schiller said of standing-room-only tickets, “but we won’t start selling those until we have cleared out everything else.”
Even before the Braves’ recent surge on the field, ticket sales were going well for Friday’s game, in part because of a “Star Wars Night” promotion.
“We sold out of Star Wars packages, but certainly since it has been known this is Acuna’s home debut, we have absolutely seen an uptick in ticket sales for not only Friday, but all three games this weekend,” Schiller said.
The series opener will be the first time Acuna plays at SunTrust Park, with the exception of a lightly attended exhibition game March 27 when he played for a “Future Stars” team. Acuna will enter his regular-season home debut with a .382 batting average (13-for-34) after going 3-for-5 with a long home run in Thursday’s 11-0 rout of the Mets in New York.
By several metrics, the Braves’ surprising start has had a measurable effect on fan interest.
Ratings in the Atlanta TV market for Braves telecasts on Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southeast increased 18 percent through the season’s first 29 games, compared with the same point last season. Acuna’s first game April 25 and Soroka’s first game Tuesday generated significant viewership spikes.
Schiller also noted a surge in social-media attention. He said the Braves generated more “Twitter impressions” on the day of Acuna’s first game than on opening day at SunTrust Park last year and more “Facebook engagements” on the week of Acuna’s arrival than any other week this year.
Through 12 home games this season, the most recent April 21, the Braves’ attendance is virtually even with last season. Their average announced attendance this season is 29,721 per game, compared with 29,687 after the same number of home games last year.
The Braves are in the midst of a stretch during which they play 17 of 20 games on the road. Having just completed a 10-game trip, they leave after this weekend’s brief homestand for a seven-game trip.
