The New York Mets didn’t give Luisangel Acuna away. Let’s be clear about that. They traded a player who had absolutely no path to meaningful playing time on this roster — not with Francisco Lindor, Bo Bichette, Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, Brett Baty, and Mark Vientos already occupying every inch of that infield — and they got back a former All-Star with a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger, and the kind of raw physical tools that don’t just disappear overnight.
This was chess. Not desperation.
The Mets had a center field problem. Juan Soto is playing left, but the remaining two spots — specifically center — needed a legitimate answer. Luis Robert Jr. is that answer. His seven Outs Above Average in 2025 tells you everything about what he brings defensively. That’s not just solid. That’s impactful. Center field defense can swing three or four games over a full season in close divisional races, and the Mets are absolutely going to be in a divisional race.
The Bat Is the Whole Argument
Here’s where it gets interesting — and where the skeptics have a real case. Robert posted back-to-back seasons with an 84 wRC+. Back to back. For a guy whose offensive reputation was built on campaigns of 155, 111, and 129 wRC+ from 2021 to 2023, that’s a collapse worth examining. Injuries derailed him. Availability has been his Achilles heel throughout his career, and Chicago’s rebuilding environment wasn’t exactly set up to nurse him back into form.
But then he steps into Clover Park this spring and absolutely annihilates a baseball at 115 mph off the bat. That virtually mirrors his season-best exit velocity from last year. You don’t generate that kind of contact if the swing is broken. You generate that if the body is right.
There are no further details about the nature of the batted ball, whether it was a grounder or a rocket to center field. But 115 mph is nothing to sneeze at.
Carlos Mendoza said it plainly — “Pretty impressive, when he’s healthy, the numbers are going to be there.” That’s not a manager blowing smoke in February. Mendoza is measured. That’s a guy who watched the ball off Robert’s bat and did the math in real time.
Healthy Is the Only Variable That Matters Now
The Mets are being smart about the rollout, keeping him out of the early spring games while they get every muscle group fully prepared for the grind of 162. Some will read that as caution born from worry. Wrong read. That’s an organization treating a high-value asset exactly the way you should treat one.
Robert is 28 years old. The athleticism is intact. The power is intact. If New York gets even a 115 wRC+ version of him — something well within his established range — this trade looks like a heist six months from now. The pieces the Mets sent to Chicago, Acuna and a pitching prospect, were real assets. But they were assets buried under organizational depth, assets that were never going to be the difference between October baseball and watching from home.
Luis Robert Jr. could be exactly that difference. The arrow is pointing up, and Flushing should be excited.
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