Carter, Acuña bring out the bats for Frisco

The Rangers have made headlines in recent years for their promising crop of young arms in the farm system. But Evan Carter and Luisangel Acuña are here to remind everyone that the future is bright at the plate, too.

Carter -- the club’s No. 1 and baseball’s No. 6 overall prospect -- smacked his second career grand slam and Acuña -- Texas’ No. 3 and baseball’s No. 45 prospect -- added his second career four-hit game and two stolen bases to help fuel Double-A Frisco’s 19-run outburst against Wichita.

Batting second and third in the Frisco order, the pair of Top 100 prospects got things started right away when Acuña hit an infield single and Carter reached on a fielding error and eventually scored on Thomas Saggese’s two-run homer. Saggese, the Rangers’ No. 15 prospect, finished the contest with a game-high five RBIs.

Wichita quickly responded with a three-run frame, but Acuña was about to set up Carter to give Frisco a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. With two on and two outs, the 21-year-old drew a five-pitch walk to bring up Carter with the bases loaded.

The 20-year-old took a first-pitch strike before jumping all over the next offering from right-hander David Festa. The lefty slugger, who’s put up a .953 OPS against righties this season, walloped an inside fastball over the right-field wall to clear the bases for his 11th Double-A homer of the season.

In the fourth, Acuña singled up the middle against Wind Surge righty Hunter McMahon before swiping his 40th bag of the season. One frame later, Carter showed off his 60-grade hit tool to win a 10-pitch marathon, fouling off four straight pitches to eventually turn a 1-2 count into a free pass.

Facing righty Taylor Floyd in the seventh, Acuña cranked a one-out double to right field -- his 23rd two-bagger of the season -- and put the icing on the cake with a steal of third base, putting him three steals shy of tying his career high of 44 he set through 111 games in 2021.

Though the infielder had accomplished plenty in the contest, Acuña saved the real fireworks for the final inning. After position player David Bañuelos retired the first two batters of the frame, a walk to Aaron Zavala got Acuña to the plate, and he didn’t hold back, clubbing an offering to right-center field for his seventh dinger of the season. The effort was the third of Acuña's career of at least four hits.

Carter added his eighth double of the season to right in the next at-bat and soon came around to score, giving him 25 multihit performances this year in just 72 games.

It's been a meteoric rise for Carter, the 50th overall pick of the 2020 Draft and Texas' 2022 Minor League player of the year, rising from a No. 56 overall in ranking 2022 to No. 6 this year. The Tennessee native is slashing .298/.413/.471 with five homers, 13 walks and 13 RBIs in July. His 12 dingers tie the career high he set last season in 106 games.

Acuña, who has played alongside Carter at every level since he made his full-season debut in 2021, is far and away having the best season of his career, sporting a .315/.379/.452 slash line with a career-high in hits (111) and doubles (23) in 82 games with Frisco this year.