Mets Forgot About Luisangel Acuña
In the series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies, Luisangel Acuña was inserted into the starting lineup. It was his first start since June 15th.
It’s malpractice to take a 23 year old top prospect and not start him for a week. Problem is, it gets worse the more you look at it.
Acuña has only started four games in June. He has started only three games since Mark Vientos landed on the IL. He’s been a forgotten man since May.
In that time, Brett Baty started 12 games in June and 10 since Vientos’ injury. In the month of June, he’s hitting .145/.213/.255. For the season, he has an 87 wRC+.
When Vientos landed on the IL, Ronny Mauricio was recalled. Even though he was raking in Syracuse, by all accounts, Mauricio was rushed back from the ACL injury.
While true, the bigger issue was the plate discipline. Whatever the issue, Mauricio has been bad hitting .180/.241/.347 (59 wRC+). He has started in 14 games.
Look at that again. Baty has been bad, and he’s started 12 games in June. Mauricio has arguably been worse, and he’s started in 14. Somehow, Acuña only started in four.
Keep in mind, this hasn’t been completely about Jeff McNeil’s return from the IL. Since June 1, Baty has three starts at second, and Mauricio has one. There were at least some opportunities.
Yes, Acuña was struggling. After being named the National League Rookie of the Month for March/April, Acuña hasn’t hit. Since May 4, he’s hit .154/.191/.154.
Make no mistake, he did not earn more playing time with his bat. The problem is the players who got the playing time over him also did not earn it.
When you have three players not performing at the plate, you should be looking to what else the player gives you to justify playing time. All told, Acuña has more impact on the game than Baty or Mauricio.
He’s a better fielder at second or third than Baty or Mauricio. He’s faster and a better base runner. He’s just a more complete baseball player.
Of course, the defense and base running makes Acuña a weapon off the bench. We saw him utilized multiple times as a pinch runner, and he’s made a difference.
That’s just not a role for a 23 year old rookie. Thats the job for a 34 year old journeyman. That’s why demoting Acuña for Travis Jankowski made sense.
Acuña should be getting daily plate appearances. Looking at his solely through that prism, sending him to Syracuse made sense. It was the right decision.
However, the Mets need to do some soul searching. They need to decide why Baty was yet again getting playing time over a better performing younger player. Why are the Mets force feeding a Mauricio when he’s never had Major League success.
Acuña is very likely the best player amongst these three, and he will be the best of these three in the future. Pushing him to the back of line made zero to no sense.
The Mets forgot about Acuña. They played Baty and Mauricio over him, and those two players did not earn their playing time.
In their tenure, David Stearns and Carlos Mendoza have been phenomenal in their decision making. They haven’t gotten the big decisions wrong. This is the first time they have.
Hopefully, this is just a blip and not indicative of a problem in the future. We should be confident this is a blip, but we should watch how they handle these three players for the rest of the season.