The name LuisAngel Acuna is very familiar – he is the brother of star Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. He is the ray of hope from the trade deadline move that sent Max Scherzer to Texas as the Mets cleaned house in 2023. He is famous for his brief major league stint in 2024 to spell and injured Francisco Lindor in a playoff chase who hit .308/.325/.641 and played outstanding defense.
LuisAngel Acuna seems to have the ingredients of a major league star, yet he is buried in the role of a bench player that can pinch run or play defense in the late innings. The likelihood that he will emerge from this current position seems lower as several talented prospects are rising to challenge him. Let’s look at his path to date and understand the actions he needs to take to improve future outcomes.
LuisAngel Acuna was born in Venezuela in March 2002 to a father that was also a ball player. Ron Acuna Sr. played minor league baseball with several teams, including the AA Binghamton Mets in 2006. All three of Ron Acuna Sr.’s sons are currently playing professional baseball: Ronald Jr. with the Braves; Bryan with the Twins minor league affiliate Fort Myers Mighty Muscles; and LuisAngel with the Mets.
LuisAngel was signed by the Texas Rangers in 2018 as a non-drafted free agent from the international pool. He was assigned to the Dominican summer League, where he became an all-star in 2019 while hitting .478 with a .438 on base percentage and striking out only 5 times. He did not play in 2020 because the DSL was cancelled due to the pandemic, but in 2021, he started where he left off with the low-A Down East Wood Ducks, again being named to the East all-star team. He was among league leaders in several categories including hits, stolen bases, and runs scored. He continued to rise through the Texas Rangers organization until he was traded in the Scherzer deal in 2023.
As a Met, Acuna was assigned Binghamton where he batted .243 over the last 37 games. He was promoted to AAA Syracuse to start the 2024 season, and although he only batted .258 there, he was in the right position to fill for Lindor during that late September stretch. In 2025 he split time between Syracuse and the Majors, excelling in the minors with a .303/.347/.385 line but not in the majors, where he hit .234.
Acuna is a dynamic player. He has speed, quickness, and baseball instincts. He can impact a game from the field and from the base paths as we have all seen from his brief appearances with the Mets. To fully realize his potential, he needs two things: a more consistent bat and an opportunity. Certainly his 2024 debut was a great opportunity, but he was not going to become the Mets’ shortstop. Another roadblock arose in 2025 when the team was experimenting with Brett Baty at second and also playing Jeff McNeil there much of the time. Acuna’s role became the utility guy, the speed guy, and the late inning defensive replacement. This can be considered all good major league experience, but not the at-bats he needs to figure out what it takes to consistently hit MLB pitching.
One might think that the departure of McNeil and the team’s shift towards Baty as the third baseman would open the door for Acuna, but the December trade for Marcus Semien shut that door rather quickly. Now he must fight for time as a utility infielder while trying to fend off the challenges from other prospects like Jett Williams and AJ Ewing. At best he will perform in a similar role to the 2025 season where he took 175 at-bats over 95 games.
For LuisAngel there are two possible paths to success:
1) Grind out another season as a role player on the major league bench, learning as much as possible from Semien and working with the new hitting staff to develop a plate approach that maximizes his OBP so he can do damage on the base paths.
2) Play a full season at AAA Syracuse and dominate, earning him either the shot to win a full time role in 2027 or becoming a prized trade chip to an organization that has a middle infield need.
This is a pretty good problem for the Mets to have: plenty of talent competing for a few positions. Let’s hope they maximize the opportunity for the team and for LuisAngel.
11 comments:
Pardon the typos, I’m using talk to type on my tablet, so there are some typos
I will again take the contrarian position on Acuna.
He is hitting pretty well in the Venezuelan league, which league hopefully will continue after the weekend’s geopolitical events, but has put up a line of .282/387/.542. At first glance, pretty darn good
But, in the same league, and in 55 games, Wilfredo Tovar is hitting .338, and light Hitting Catcher Alley, Sanchez is hitting 307. That tells me that the pitching down there is AA - at Best.
While Acuna did hit .303 in 28 games for Syracuse, as you note, he also hit no home runs there in a home run happy league.
In Venezuela, there is a small 5’8” second baseman, 22 year old Jadher Areinamo, from I believe the Brewer system.
His slash line? .364/.420/.692, far better than Acuna’s numbers. And this Brewer‘s kid only had about a month of AA ball last year after playing in High a, and he didn’t hit particularly well in AA.
So based on the data, including the height measurement of Acuna, I still see him as at best a decent utility player. Long-term, I see him as a mediocre guy when it comes to major league level talent, and a guy who will be scuffling For major league playing time. He could do better, but at his very short stature, he’s really working at a major disadvantage, not a minor one.
Lack of height can be a major hindrance and sports. Unless you’re a gymnast.
One guy who was absolutely remarkable at a short height was 5‘3“ Muggsy Bogues, who played in almost 900 NBA games and started 556 games. He was an incredibly talented little guy.
Houston second baseman Altuve is an extraordinarily talented short guy. My guess is there are many talented short guys. Only the extraordinarily talented ones end up making any real impact, however, in general.
First, I never try to analyze winter stats. Playing down there at this time of the year is simply a fun time for players that were born there. Sometimes they are rehabbing. Other times they are developing new stances or swings. That's all. It's fun time and a Latin approach to a hitting/pitching lab.
That being said, it really doesn't matter what he does there. He is totally blocked from being the starting Mets shortstop (Lindor), second baseman (Semien) and centerfielder (Taylor/Benge/Ewing).
I simply love his as a Mets utility infielder. Speed. Arm. ++ in the field. SB potential. The low batting average doesn't bother me. He's a late inning replacement at best on this team.
Trade him? Sure. For the right return.
In two years, I believe the power rankings, for these players will be as follows: 1) Benge 2) Ewing 3) Jett 4) Voit 5) Morabito 6) Acuna, with Elian Peña closing in fast, if he hasn’t already lapped Acuna. All with a higher ceiling than one Danny Muno, I might add.
In 1974, when I was in 9th grade, I read the Sporting News to get information about the Mets minor league system. It was one of the few sources for such information before the internet.
During the winter of 1973-1974 there was incredible hype about a young Mets outfielder named Benny Ayala, who was dominating the Puerto Rican league. He had power and an incredible arm in the outfield.
He made the team out of spring training making the jump from AA, where he had batted .258 with 17 homers in 1973. Exposed to major league pitching Ayala batted ..235 before being sent down to AAA, where he had a decent year. He next made a short appearance in 1976 and batted .115 and was soon out of the organization.
The Mets traded Ayala in spring training 1977 to the Cardinals for second baseman Doug Clarey. Ayala had some serviceable years as a 4rth outfielder named. Clarey batted .125 in his one year of AAA.
The moral of this circuitous story is that I learned at a young age not to trust winter league stats. They mean nothing.
Word of the day... circuitous
Meaning... whatever Brennan says
BTW
I was in the 9th grade in 1899
Ray: 1492
1492 was a good year. I discovered that I liked being here.
I remember Ayala hitting a HR in his first AB oh well it looked good at the moment.
Also remember Mike Vail who could hit but not field and had a good year in 75' then did stupid and hurt himself in the off season play basketball.
Mike Vail ripped his knee up chasing a fly ball when his foot caught a sprinkler that malfunctioned at Shea Stadium.
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