The New York Mets called up top prospect Luisangel Acuna from Triple-A Syracuse for their Saturday night matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies, and he made the most of his opportunity with a statement performance in their 6-4 loss.
Acuna produced two hits for the Mets in four plate appearances. He finished tied with Starling Marte, Mark Vientos, and Jose Iglesias for most hits on the Mets for the game. The standout shortstop entered the lineup in place of Francisco Lindor, who missed action on Saturday due to injury.
Lindor’s infirmities carried over into Sunday, where the National League MVP candidate was forced to leave the third game of their season series against the Phillies due to back soreness. Thus, Acuna, who followed up his strong debut by going 0-3 at the plate on Sunday, could be thrown a full workload down the stretch of this year.
Mets get strong debut from team-first top prospect Luisangel Acuna
Following his highly-anticipated big league debut, the Venezuelan infielder had this to say about his hopes for the remainder of the year, per Dan Martin and Mike Puma of the New York Post:
“In whatever way I can help, whether it be baserunning, hitting, defense, I will be there for whatever the team needs,” Acuna said through an interpreter.
Acuna’s 198 total stolen bases in 505 minor league games played show that he is a talented base runner who can advance bodies along the bags. The same goes for his clean .280 batting average and 263 RBIs for his minor league career, the latter of which came just over once every two outings on average.
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Acuna may see an elevated role in the Mets’ rotation as SS Francisco Lindor battles injury
The Mets may be without Lindor beyond Sunday. Thus, their No. 12 ranked prospect will be a handy option to spell for the NL MVP candidate should he need to miss more time.
The Mets (81-68) are deadlocked with the Atlanta Braves (81-68) in the race for the sixth and final Wild Card spot in the NL. The Braves hold the tiebreaker advantage over them, so New York will need to put their foot on the gas for the last 13 games of the year to squeeze into the playoffs. Acuna is present to help with those efforts. Beyond that, this final stretch of the year will give the Mets a good feel for his readiness for the Major Leagues given that he met his call-up projection for 2024.
