The Mets, based on Spotrac info, will save roughly half of Mighty Mad Max’s $43+ million salary for 2024, which presumably saves them an equally huge additional amount of 2024 luxury tax.
But back to the 5’8” “LA” Acuna:
His AA Texas League team pre-trade was Frisco. I “Frisco Kid” you not.
The average AA Texas League team ERA was about 4.80.
He then moved in that mega-trade to the Mets’ Eastern League squad (Binghamton).
The average Eastern League team ERA was a much lower 4.10.
Hence it should not have been a complete surprise to see this from 21 year old LA Acuna:
Frisco: 84 games, .313/.377/.453. He was clearly the Frisco Kid.
Bingo: 37 games, .243/.317/.304. He hit like a Bumbling Pony.
Well, the considerable size of that offensive drop off from Frisco to Bingo was still surprising.
Hopefully the drop-off was fully explained by
1) better Eastern League pitching
2) the pressure of adjusting to being the center of a big trade and
3) facing many pitchers he’d never faced before.
But the .304 slugging % is a bit concerning.
For perspective, the 3 inches taller ex-Met Ruben Tejada had a slightly higher MLB career slugging % of .317, which hopefully will prove to be a silly comparison when LA Acuna tears the cover off the ball in 2024. (Ruben also made his Mets debut a year younger than Acuna is today, but hopefully that is another meaningless bit of trivia to bring up).
After all, LAA was baseball’s #44 prospect at the time of the trade, even if he played more like a #344 overall prospect for Binghamton.
Anyway, on the positive flip side, back in 2022, after hitting well in High A, he was promoted to AA Frisco late in the season, also for, amazingly, 37 games, and in his 2022 Frisco AA cup of coffee, he hit just .224/.302/.349.
So his jump in “Frisco 2023” to .313/.377/.453 was very notable and substantial.
This has me believing that his downward 37 game Bingo debut was just a hiccup, and we’ll see a resurgent LA Acuna in 2024 in AA and AAA (perhaps just in AAA, as the Mets braintrust may want him on the opening day 2024 Syracuse roster).
Unlike one dimensional Daniel Vogelbach, who had to hit to not be baseball-worthless, remember that Acuna is a prolific base stealer (57 of 67 in 121 games in 2023) and made just 8 errors in 92 games at SS and 2 in 18 games at 2nd base, so he already has a major league caliber defensive ability.
So…simply…let’s sit back and watch and hope he hits like the dickens in 2024 as a then-22 year old on his upwards journey towards Citifield.
My guess is, when he arrives, there will be a period of adjustment. With Acuna, that seems to be his M.O. when that happens, may the adjustment period not last more than 37 games.
But…one more point of concern…
I hate to bring this up…but…
In the failed Binghamton championship playoffs bid, LA Acuna didn’t help.
How so? He was just 2 for 14 with a walk and 6 Ks. Not good.
Was it a fluke? Seems not.
In his career in the playoffs, excluding meaningless DSL playoffs stats from 2019, LA Acuna has been far from Mr. October, Reggie Jackson reminded me.
Our LAA, in his playoff career stateside, has gone just 7 for 50 with 1 double, no HRs, 5 walks, 16 Ks, and just one RBI.
Which is pretty awful, to be objective.
“Nido stuff”, essentially.
Hopefully no indicator of his future playoffs success.
Frankly, these LAA playoff #s bear no resemblance to those of the Uber-successful former Mets-torturing Yankee Derek Jeter and makes me a little concerned about our LAA.
P.S.
Speaking in October of Reggie Jackson…
Through a very flukey chain of events, not to be reiterated here, I got tickets for, and attended, Reggie’s “3 HRs in 3 swings” World Series-winning stunner at the ballpark in theBronx way back in October 1977. Probably (for me), it was the most magical baseball game ever, although the Mets game 6 of the 1986 World Series, and the final Mets-Houston extra inning classic game that year, both came close.
ARIZONA RISING:
The Arizona Fall team team the Mets players are on, the Glendale Desert Dogs, was being steamrolled, flattened, and flummoxed, and was 2-10 in their first 12 games. Then they shrugged that off and went a mere 6-0 last weeks so now they’re 8-10. Sweet. And…our Mets guys may have started slow but all are doing GOOD. Heck, last night…down 4-0 early…they rally to win their 7th straight. Now 9-10. From jugglers to juggernauts in a week.
Meanwhile, in the MLB playoffs, Max Scherzer stunk, but it mattered not. His hitting-happy Texas Rangers blew out the Astros 11-4 to head into the World Series. We knew when they signed Jake deGrom, they were heading to the Fall Classic, right?
And Arizona beat the team that chanted “F the Mets” by a score of 5-1 to force a deciding game 7.
Meanwhile Jeff McNeil was likely doing what the Mets do best in October…golfing.
It is still early to determine whether Acuna is going to be a star - but that's why they call them "prospects". I was very impressed with his speed and fielding in Binghamton. It did seem that he was struggling to adjust with the bat to the Eastern League.
ReplyDeleteOne who didn't take long to adjust was JT Schwartz, who hit .302 for those Rumble Ponies in his first year in AA action. Schwartz also has not taken long to adjust to the Arizona Fall League, batting .319 with 2HR and 12 RBI in 12 games.
I hope Jeff McNeil is healing his elbow, not swinging a golf club!!!
So
ReplyDeleteHe bumped a level and changed teams?
Ample reason for slump
I expect big things from him in 2024
Seeing pictures of Acuna, I wonder if there was any food in his house. The kid is super skinny and has no upper body mass. I guess that why he is fast, but he will fill in. His brother was also quite small, but somehow became Hercules overnight.
ReplyDeleteHopefully some of it was a slump created from the adjustment of moving from one organization to a new one...his first 2 weeks or so as a Binghamton Met, he hit .167...from August 15th thru the end of the season, he rebounded a bit while hitting .261 with a .319 BAbip...
ReplyDeleteGeesh,what have you done for me lately,isn’t always a good way to judge players.
ReplyDeleteMy largest emphasis here is that we have two seasons: 1) regular season and 2) post-season.
ReplyDeleteIf you are fortunate enough to get to the post-season as a team, you will not succeed if you have a guy who doesn't hit in the post season. 7 for 50 with 1 double and 1 RBIs and just 5 walks? Yeah, he's young, but that concerns me.
Meanwhile, the 2 years younger Jet Williams was just 1 for 12 in AA in the post season - but that one hit was a 3 run HR, and he walked 6 times. In 5 career post season games, he has a .522 OBP. Jett is my guy before Acuna.
Jett has a pro .421 OBP, Acuna a far-off .369.
Talked to my brother this AM, and his take? Trade iffy prospects before their value drops and get young stars.
Young stars for iffy prospects,good idea!
ReplyDeleteHe turns 22 in March. He’s not going into next season at 24. Let’s give him a full year in the system before we push the panic button. The one thing he has that this Mets team doesn’t is superior speed and base stealing ability. Don’t get me wrong if we got offered a top SP prospect for him I’d consider it. But I doubt that’s happening. So let’s just see what he does as a 22 year old. If he ends up having two thirds the stats of his Brother I’ll be pretty happy.
ReplyDeleteDon’t get started with me on starters…
ReplyDeleteThe Mets did not steal Acuna, rather they cashed in a good pitcher that was probably at his apex for a good prospect probably at his apex. Both sides had their eyes open on this, but fans hear the name Acuna and drool. Not so fast…
ReplyDeleteGus, Ronald Acuna blasted up to the majors. Luisangel is fast too, a fine fielder, but will his offense develop to a GOOD major league level? We'll have to wait and see. Baseball-wise, I'm moving to Missouri, the "Show Me" state.
ReplyDeleteNo cities named Hype in Missouri.
Acuna (don’t get me wrong) is someone who I hope impresses us all in 2024. We really could use a good on base, high steal, great D second base rookie in 2025.
ReplyDelete