Paul Articulates - Acuna is someone to watch

Welcome to May, Mets fans!  April has been very, very good to us and all of us are hopeful that May will bring more of the same.  From the unexpected superb performance by the pitching staff to the renaissance of Pete Alonso, the beginning of this season has brought us a little more pleasure than we thought.  

If there are any doubters to that statement, just look at the stands in Citi Field lately - the place is packed and the fans are having a great time. Tuesday night's game was off-the-charts fun.  Home runs flying out of the park, highlight reel defensive plays coming one after another, and plenty of Mets joining in on the party.  

So even though some players have not yet hit their stride, there are enough contributors to ensure that this team will not live or die based upon one person's performance.

So let's talk about one player that is quietly heading on a path to become a big piece of the future.  His name is LuisAngel Acuna.

LuisAngel has best been known as the brother of Ronald Acuna Jr. who stars with the Atlanta Braves.  He is also the son of Ron Acuna, another baseball player who spent some time in the Mets' farm system. This is a big baseball family that includes the Escobars (Jose and Alcides). 

LuisAngel started out in the Texas Rangers organization as a non-drafted free agent, signed in July 2018.  As a Ranger he played several seasons at four different minor league levels before being traded to the Mets in the July 2023 deal that sent Max Scherzer to the Rangers.

Acuna had put up some pretty good numbers before being traded - he had batted .315 with Texas' AA club in 2023 where he had a 1.220 OPS and stole 42 bases in 84 games.  He was the number 3 prospect in the Rangers organization at the time of the trade.

Things did not go quite as well when he arrived in the north country.  He began with the AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies where he hit .243 with a 1.00 OPS and 15 stolen bases in 37 games.  The following year he played a competent but non-spectacular season with the AAA Syracuse Mets.  His slash line there was .258/.299/.355 in 131 games.  Not bad, but not screaming for a MLB contract either.

Then came the late-season injury to Francisco Lindor just as the Mets were making their 2024 playoff push.  Acuna had demonstrated more skill as a defensive shortstop than any other candidates, so even though the Mets had Jose Iglesias as a backup, they decided to bring Acuna up to the big club.  What followed was a welcome surprise for everyone.  Not only did Acuna play a really solid shortstop during some very stressful pennant race games, but he also showed more with the bat than he had in Syracuse.  

Acuna compiled a .308/.325/.641 slash line in that brief 14 game stint in the heat of the race.  He proved he could play there not only with his stat line, but in the calm demeanor he displayed under the intense pressure.

This season the expectations were very high for LuisAngel.  He played his way onto the opening day roster, and when Jeff McNeil went down with an injury, the second base job opened up to a platoon between Acuna (vs lefties) and Brett Baty (vs righties).  Both candidates started very slowly, and Acuna showed a few lapses out in the field that seemed uncharacteristic.  

Francisco Lindor even wondered aloud whether LuisAngel was "bored" out there.  This seemed more like a motivational prod than a serious comment.  Maybe it worked.  Since then Acuna has turned up the heat.

Jeff McNeil finished his rehab by tearing up minor league pitching and the writing was on the wall.  The Mets needed to make a decision between Acuna and Baty as to who would step down to make room.  With Jose Siri injured and Acuna also capable of playing center field, the Mets sent Baty down and kept LuisAngel.  

He has rewarded them for the confidence by playing a very solid second base while McNeil patrolled the outfield in most of his games back.  Acuna has stepped it up at the plate, raising his batting average to .300 as of Tuesday's game.  His .355 OBP is pretty solid as well.

There is one other thing that has worked in Acuna's favor as he takes his shot in the bigs.  He is very fast and very savvy on the base paths.  He has shown flashes of being a game changer who can get on via a walk or single and immediately steal second and score on almost any subsequent base hit.

According to Baseball Savant, LuisAngel Acuna is the twelfth fastest player in baseball right now with sprint speed measured at 29.4 ft/sec.  That is killer speed, and from my eyeball test, he knows how to use it.  This can be a devastating weapon, and if he continues to maintain an OBP around .350 this weapon will be on the basepaths frequently.

So to summarize this story, the Mets have a potentially dynamic player on their roster that is maturing with MLB reps.  He has a solid glove, outstanding speed, and is showing some bat talent as well.   He has gone from the guy in the debate about who gets sent down to the guy in the conversation about rising stars in my book.  I am looking forward to seeing how this develops over time.