Could Luisangel Acuña Be In Danger of Losing Roster Spot?
Time is of the essence for Luisangel Acuña as he looks to prove himself worthy of a spot on the Mets’ major league roster.
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The 23-year-old infielder, who came over from the Texas Rangers as part of the Max Scherzer trade in 2023, was largely disappointing during his first full season in the team’s farm system last year, hitting .258/.299/.355 with a .295 wOBA, 5.5 percent walk rate and 35.0 percent hard-hit rate across 131 games at Triple-A Syracuse. Once Acuña was called up in the middle of New York’s playoff push last September after Francisco Lindor sustained a back injury, however, those struggles went out the window.
In his first taste of big league action, Acuña slashed .308/.325/.641 with three home runs, three Outs Above Average and a 166 wRC+ in 14 contests and 40 plate appearances. There’s an argument to be made that the club would not have played into October had he not stepped up in Lindor’s absence, and his hype train was moving full steam ahead leading into the 2025 campaign.
Though Acuña posted a .573 OPS in 56 spring training plate appearances, he was always a shoo-in to crack the Opening Day roster after Jeff McNeil went down with an oblique strain in early March. He earned NL Rookie of the Month honors for March/April while batting .288/.342/.356 with a 102 wRC+ alongside seven stolen bases over 27 games and 79 trips to the plate, but May has been a different story.
Acuña has put up the lowest wRC+ (60) of any player on the team with at least 10 plate appearances this month, slashing .233/.292/.256 while owning a subpar 67.6 percent ground-ball rate and 17.1 percent hard-hit rate. His underlying metrics suggest that his bat has been lacking all season long, evidenced by 20th percentile or lower placements in xSLG (.324) and xwOBA (.290) as well as hard-hit (34.4%), barrel (1.1%) and chase rate (32.8%) per Baseball Savant, but those troubles have lengthened even further recently.
Though Acuña remains stellar on the base paths and has performed well defensively at second base, Ronny Mauricio’s not far away from entering the major league equation for the Mets. After not appearing in any games last season amidst his recovery from a torn ACL that he sustained in winter ball at the end of 2023, he’s hit .256/.319/.465 over 13 contests and 47 plate appearances during his current rehab assignment. Mauricio’s only improved over recent days too, as he boasts a 1.965 OPS with seven hits and two home runs in 11 at-bats since moving to Triple-A on May 18.
With Mauricio, a superior offensive talent, rapidly working his way back to the bigs, Acuña is in danger of losing his roster spot. The former is not eligible to be called up until May 27 unless another player gets injured, however, so the latter still has a few days left to turn things around against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox before being sent down becomes a real possibility.
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