Luisangel Acuna’s short stint in the big leagues with the New York Mets was all management needed to see to expand their expectations of him heading into the 2025 season.
“He’s going to have a big role,” manager Carlos Mendoza said at the team’s “Amazin’ Day” at Citi Field. “He’s going to have a huge role. I said [Jeff] McNeil is going to be a big part of our team, right? Luisangel is right there, too.”
What that role might be is unknown at the moment. With less than three weeks until pitchers and catchers report for spring training, the Mets’ infield situation remains unresolved.
Pete Alonso is still a free agent, and if he does not return, Mark Vientos is currently favored to shift across the diamond from third to first base. It would then open up a competition at the hot corner between Acuna, Ronny Mauricio, and Brett Baty, who is the only natural third baseman in the equation and has already been given multiple opportunities to establish himself at the position.
An avenue also exists for Acuna to find a niche in the majors at second base. While the aforementioned McNeil is going to get another shot at the starting second-base job, he has struggled mightily at the plate over the last two seasons. The 2022 batting champion has batted a paltry .257 with a .703 OPS over his last 285 games.
“We keep saying that the young players are going to get opportunities,” Mendoza said. “Luisangel will get his. He’s taking ground balls at third base, so he’s part of that mix. He’s shown that he can play at this level, and he will continue to get opportunities.”
After he struggled mightily in Triple-A, the 22-year-old Venezuelan was thrust into big-league action after star shortstop Francisco Lindor went down with a back injury in late September. In 14 games, he provided sound defense at shortstop and second base while batting .308 with a .966 OPS, three home runs, and six RBI.
His contributions kept the Mets afloat without Lindor, whose absence was called “the scariest” moment of the 2024 season by president of baseball operations David Stearns. During Acuna’s stint as a regular, New York remained in the thick of the postseason hunt and eventually clinched their ticket to the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, setting up a magical run to the NLCS.
“For Acuna to come up and step right in — let’s put the offensive contributions to the side for a second — but to pay the type of defense that he did in such high-leverage positions was really impressive,” Stearns said. “For a young player to come up in that situation, first time in the big leagues, do what he did, that speaks really positively to what he can do in the future. Similarly to Mauricio, it’s all over the field. It’s third base, it’s second base, it’s shortstop. If we need him in the outfield, he can do that. That’s a very valuable player.”
