Luisangel Acuña and His Impact Moving Forward

After his recent call up to the big leagues, Luisangel Acuña has been serving his role well, filling in for the injured Francisco Lindor, who is day-to-day with lower back issues. There is no timetable for his return, but there is no rush after Acuña’s recent run for the Mets. Before his call up, Acuña was having a great year for the Syracuse Mets, putting up a 258 average with seven home runs, 40 RBI, and 50 stolen bases this season in 131 games. Acuña can play both of the middle infield positions, as well as center field, which offers great versatility for the Mets. It will be interesting to see what the Mets do with him as the season furthers and possibly into the postseason with the wild card race heating up.

Luisangel has played just four games with the Major League squad, yet his impact has been known on both sides of the ball. At shortstop, Acuña has registered just one error, but other than that, he has been lights out when the ball has been coming to him. At the dish, Acuña has truly made his presence known. Acuña has five hits in his eleven at bats so far, registering his first home run in the eighth inning of the game last night against the Washington Nationals reliever Joe La Sorsa. Acuña has been making an impact so far in his short lived career.

The question will be what to do with him when Lindor is ready to come back? With the versatility he offers, they could move him to second, though Jose Iglesias is as hot as anyone right now, holding an eleven game hit streak right now. Could they move him to center? Harrison Bader is a great defensive player, but his bat is somewhat lackluster. They have also moved both Brandon Nimmo and Tyrone Taylor into center field at different points of the season and on Bader’s day off, so there is a lot of competition for Acuña. Surely, Acuña deserves the playing time, but the question of where will need to be decided by Carlos Mendoza shortly.