You have to hand it to the Atlanta Braves when it comes to giving their fans a first glimpse of the organization's ridiculously talented outfielder Ronald Acuna.
Wiith him playing for the Class AAA Gwinnett Stripers to start the season, the most expensive ticket in Coolray Field will be $40 for a Home Plate Club seat for the team's home opener on April 12. The cheapest ticket in the place still available will go for $9 that night, according to the Stripers website.
By contrast, had the Braves placed him on the big-league roster for opening day against Philadelphia on Thursday, the best seat in SunTrust Park for Johnny or Judy Braves Fan would have cost more than $250 with the cheapest going for $10, though those are long gone.
You can almost see the advertisements now: Braves baseball 2018 - where the fans' finances come first.
In reality, of course, the decision to send Acuna to Gwinnett for the first two weeks or so has nothing to do with the fans and everything to do with the organization's financials. By keeping him in the minors to start the year, the Braves won't have to deal with his free agency until the end of his seventh year with the club instead of his sixth, because a full season is counted as 172 days. If he's with the Stripers until April 13, he'll log no more than 171 days with the big club.
This is why there's usually at least one or two guys with accounting degrees in their background working in the front office.
It's also a pretty clear indicator that however talented Acuna is - and in 44 spring-training at-bats he batted .432 - there's not much concern by new Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos that not having him in the lineup at the start of the year could keep Atlanta from the playoffs.
What Braves Nation must most hope is that the club can avoid losing 90 games for a fourth straight season. And as this sports department's Lindsey Young expertly explains elsewhere in this section, this year's model would appear to be improved across the board from the one that finished 72-90 last season.
Or as first baseman Freddie Freeman told MLB.com last week: "It feels a lot different (this spring). You want to see that light at the end of the tunnel, and you can almost touch it now with your hands. We're so close."
Not according to online bookmaking site Bovada, where the over/under on Braves victories this season is 74.5. That would be an improvement on the past few seasons but not the kind the organization is hoping for as it begins its second season in SunTrust Park.
Still, there have been glimpses beyond Acuna that the 13-16 spring training record the Braves have forged, counting Saturday's 8-3 loss to the Yankees, at least hints of better days. The optimism begins with opening-day starting pitcher Julio Teheran, who has given up only four earned runs in 25 2/3 innings this spring.
"He's come in on a mission," Braves manager Brian Snitker told MLB.com.
Teheran backed up his manager's words after working five innings and surrendering two runs (both homers) to the Yankees, telling the Braves' broadcast team: "I've worked a lot on my slider and my changeup. The changeup is a lot better, and it's made my slider better. I feel like I've always had a good fastball."
There are those who believe that Atlanta may yet dangle Teheran for more youth as this season moves along. After years of purging high-dollar talent, the franchise is expected to have a lot of money at the close of this season to load up for a playoff run a year from now.
But this season is yet to be played and the addition of Acuna, whenever that comes to pass, can't come fast enough for newly elected Hall of Famer Chipper Jones.
"He's way ahead of me (as a prospect)," Jones said of the 20-year-old Acuna at the start of spring training. "He's as good a prospect as I've seen."
"His bat stays in the zone for a long time," Jones added. "He's going to make consistent contact. The ball explodes off his bat. You can't teach that. He's not quite what Andruw (Jones) was in the outfield, but he's not far off. I think he's going more for damage from foul pole to foul pole than Andruw did."
None other than Freeman believes this could be the year the Braves shock the world.
"This is a huge year for us," he told MLB.com. "You never know, this could be the year that we're the (2017) Twins. You don't get picked and next thing you know, we're there. We have a lot of guys who could make a huge impact this year and get us back to the playoffs."
Or at least position themselves to get back there a year from now, when Acuna should star for all 162 games rather than the season's final 171 days.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com