The Road to The Show™: Mets’ Acuña

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at top Mets prospect Luisangel Acuña. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

While he may never outgrow his brother’s exceedingly large shadow, Luisangel Acuña has emerged as one of the most exciting prospects in baseball.

MLB Pipeline’s No. 38 overall prospect is, of course, the younger brother of Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., the 2023 MVP frontrunner. The brothers share similar batting stances and general flair on the field, but not too much else in terms of style of play. They do train together in their native Venezuela in the offseason, and they even made a friendly wager on who would finish with the most stolen bases this season -- Ronald won, 73-57.

They’re also division rivals.

The Mets landed Luisangel Acuña, their new top prospect, in a deal with the Rangers for Max Scherzer in July. New York also agreed to pay a portion of Scherzer’s remaining salary – reportedly around $35 million – to pry Acuña from Texas.

The Mets acquired Acuña in the midst of his best season as a professional. In 121 total games between Double-A Frisco and Binghamton, he finished with a .294 average and .769 OPS. He reached career highs with 57 steals, 93 runs scored and 28 doubles while clubbing nine homers with 63 RBIs.

Since his debut in 2019, Acuña is the only player in the Minors to score more than 290 runs and steal more than 150 bases.

The 21-year-old swings hard from the right side and employs an aggressive approach. He has a tendency to chase pitches, particularly off-speed, which often affects his quality of contact. But his 20 percent career strikeout rate is manageable.

Acuña might not have the same star quality as his brother, but he possesses above-average tools across the board – with the exception of his power, though some scouts see potential for a 20-homer season. He’s a dynamic player who can affect the game on the bases and on both sides of the ball.

“I’ve seen that a lot on social media where people want to say, ‘You’re better than your brother,’ [or] ‘Your brother’s better than you,’” Luisangel told MLB.com in August. “But those are things that I don’t control. I just continue to go out there, play my game and do what I do.”

Luisangel was reportedly set to join his brother in the Braves system. But the agreement that was in place with Atlanta was nullified as part of the aftermath of sanctions imposed on the club after MLB discovered the Braves had circumvented the international signing rules from 2014-2017.

The Rangers instead signed Acuña for $425,000 when he turned 16 years old in 2018. The bonus eclipsed the $100,000 the Braves gave his brother four years earlier. It also dwarfed the $15,000 deal the Mets gave his father, Ronald Acuña Sr., in 1997.

The eldest Acuña spent six seasons in the Mets system, including three stops in Binghamton from 2002 to 2004.

After signing, Luisangel was utterly dominant in his first Minor League season in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League in 2019. He finished 10th in batting (.342) and third in runs scored (61) while stealing 17 bases and producing an .893 OPS.

Following the pandemic, the Rangers brought Acuña stateside at just 19 years old in 2021. In 111 games with Down East, he batted .266/.345/.404 with a .749 OPS.

Although his production was a bit uneven, the 2022 season solidified his status as a Top 100 prospect. He missed a month after straining his hamstring on Opening Day but returned to bat .317 with a .900 OPS in 54 games with High-A Hickory before being promoted.

Over the final 37 games of the regular season with Double-A Frisco, Acuña batted .224 with a .651 OPS, 11 extra-base hits and 12 steals.

He made up for the lost time with the Surprise Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League. Acuña’s final AFL numbers don’t jump off the page – he batted .238 with a .685 OPS in 21 games – but he showed off his full impressive set of skills against advanced competition.

After struggling in his first Texas League stint, where he was more than four years younger than the average player, Acuña was one of the league’s best hitters at the start of 2023. At the time of the trade, he produced a .315/.377/.453 slash line with eight homers, 42 steals, 68 runs and 51 RBIs in 84 games.

He even earned some props from his older brother during his impressive season.

“My brother is more advanced and better than I was at his age. Maybe I was as talented, but not as advanced.” Ronald told the Dallas Morning News in May.

"I expect to be there pretty soon"

Luisangel Acuña on facing his brother Ronald in the big leagues: pic.twitter.com/eU696ncjE5

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) August 8, 2023

After the trade, Luisangel initially struggled in the Eastern League but finished strong down the stretch, batting .289 with a .720 OPS in his final 24 regular season games. He didn’t show much power with Binghamton and recorded his only two long balls in the same game. In 37 total games with the Rumble Ponies, he batted .243 with a 621 OPS, 25 runs and 15 stolen bases.

Defensively, he spent most of the season at shortstop, but he did play 18 games at second base, including 12 at Binghamton. Even before he was traded, it was likely that Acuña would have been moved off shortstop, despite earning the Rangers’ Minor League Defender of the Year honor in 2021.

The Rangers have All-Star shortstop Corey Seager under contract through 2031, and the Mets have a similar situation with Francisco Lindor.

New York kept a similarly versatile shortstop prospect, Ronny Mauricio, at the position as long as possible before he eventually broke into the Majors this year as a second baseman. In addition to second, Acuña made a brief cameo in center field at Frisco, and he’ll likely continue to see time at those positions as he develops.