Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
According to various reports, the New York Mets have agreed to trade Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers for top prospect Luisangel Acuña. To help the Mets acquire a prospect like Acuña, they have agreed to pay all but $22.5 million Scherzer is owed on the remainder of his contract. He has a $43.3 player option for the 2024 season.
The trade comes one day after Scherzer made comments about needed to talk with the Mets about the direction of the franchise after the David Robertson trade. Scherzer waived his no trade clause, and Major League Baseball approved the deal due to the Rangers receiving more than $2 million to cover Scherzer’s salary.
At first glance, Acuña, 21, is now in the conversation for the top rated prospect in the Mets farm system. On that note, he was rated as the 87th best prospect by Baseball America in their 2023 midseason update. That puts him behind Ronny Mauricio and Kevin Parada. MLB Pipeline currently has Acuña as the 44th best prospect putting him behind Parada and ahead of Mauricio.
The Mets are getting a top 50ish prospect in baseball in Luisangel Acuña.
The 21-year-old brother of Ronald has 42 stolen bases and an .830 OPS in Double-A this year.
— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) July 30, 2023
In a recent midseason report on Acuña, Baseball America noted “he boasts an excellent combination of feel to hit, power, speed and positional versatility.” MLB Pipeline said of Acuña:
Acuña attacks pitches with an explosive right-handed stroke and an aggressive approach. He’ll draw his share of walks and doesn’t strike out excessively, but he chases and swings and misses too frequently against non-fastballs and doesn’t always make quality contact. If he can settle down a bit and drive the ball in the air on a more regular basis, he could be a .270 hitter with 20 or more homers per season.
Combining solid speed with savvy on the bases, Acuña has swiped 84 bags in 104 attempts during the past two seasons.
As has been noted, Acuña is the younger brother of Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. While the comparisons between the two are unfair, we should note Luisangel has a similar, if not better, ability to steal bases. Luisangel has power potential, but he has not quite tapped into in the way his older brother has.
At the moment, Acuña has predominantly played shortstop. There were questions about his ability to stick at the position long-term, but he has mostly shown the ability to stick there. That said, due to the presence of Corey Seager, the Rangers have looked at him at second and center field much the same way the Mets have with Mauricio due to the presence of Francisco Lindor. As a result, we may well see the Mets move Acuña to another position like center, which is some predicted he would be when he makes it to the majors.
This season, Acuña has played 84 games with the Rangers Double-A affiliate. He is hitting .315/.377/.453 with 25 doubles, two triples, seven homers, and 51 RBI. He has a 121 wRC+, 9.2 BB%, and an 18.9 K% while being 3.5 years younger than league average. He has been successful in 42 out of 47 stolen base attempts.
