The Rangers traded Acuna to the Mets on Saturday in exchange for Max Scherzer, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.
Acuna, who is the younger brother of Atlanta All-Star Ronald Acuna, was one of Texas' top prospects and will also be one of the top players in New York's farm system. The 21-year-old shortstop has a .323/.384/.472 slash line and 42 steals in 84 games at Double-A this season, so he could move up to Triple-A before the end of the campaign.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Streaking at Double-A
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Acuna has a 13-game hitting streak going at Double-A Frisco and is hitting .411 with one home run, four steals and seven strikeouts over that stretch.
An undersized yet dynamic athlete, Acuna has seen most of his time at shortstop this season while also getting starts at second base and center field. He is slashing .315/.371/.447 with six home runs, 34 steals (on 37 attempts) and a 19.2 percent strikeout rate for the RoughRiders. Given how set the Rangers seem up the middle, Acuna could be trade bait at the deadline, which might be why he hasn't been promoted to Triple-A yet.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Perfect on bases at Double-A
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Acuna is hitting .302 with three home runs, 18 steals on 18 attempts and a 118 wRC+ in 40 games for Double-A Frisco.
His 50.8 percent groundball rate is a little high, but Acuna's 23 percent line-drive rate and 12.1 percent infield-flyball rate are the best marks of his career. Additionally, his 28.9 percent hard-hit rate is easily a career high. Acuna is not the same type of high-impact offensive player as his big brother, Ronald Acuna, but he is an elite athlete at 5-foot-8 and could feasibly play anywhere on the diamond. His success rate on the bases suggests that will always be a big part of his game.
Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Protected from Rule 5 draft
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Acuna was added to the Rangers' 40-man roster Tuesday, Jeff Wilson of RangersToday.com reports.
One of Ronald Acuna's younger brothers, Luisangel hit .278/.367/.425 with a 23.6 percent strikeout rate, 11 home runs and 40 stolen bases in 91 games across High-A and Double-A as a 20-year-old. At roughly 5-foot-8, he lacks his big brother's power potential and physicality, but Acuna is still ahead of schedule on his ascent up the organizational ladder.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Could take on another position
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Texas assistant general manager for player development Ross Fenstermaker said Acuna could be asked to play other positions in addition to shortstop.
Acuna has already appeared at second base 20 times this season for Double-A Amarillo, and Fenstermaker believes he could handle center field as well. "I think he's very athletic playing in the middle of the diamond, he's just got natural instincts and feeling and the first acceleration to get off the ball," the assistant GM said. The 20-year-old shortstop is slashing .234/.293/.402 since a promotion from High-A Hickory on Aug. 1. Expanding his defensive portfolio makes sense since the Rangers are locked in at middle infield with Corey Seager and Marcus Semien for the next several seasons.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Bumped up to Double-A
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The Rangers promoted Acuna from High-A Hickory to Double-A Frisco on Monday, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reports.
Acuna will move up a rung on the minor-league ladder after slashing .317/.417/.483 with eight home runs and a 28-for-34 success rate on stolen-base attempts across 240 plate appearances at Hickory. The 20-year-old has received exposure to both middle-infield spots this season but is still expected to be developed primarily as a shortstop as he makes the move to Frisco.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Rolling in High-A
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Acuna owns a .299/.408/.598 slash line with seven homers, 10 steals and a 15:29 BB:K through 24 games for High-A Hickory this season.
He's been a man on a mission ever since returning from a hamstring injury he suffered in the season opener. The strikeout rate is a bit high at 28.2 percent, but Acuna's 14.6 percent walk rate makes the whiffs much more palatable -- as do his emerging power and above-average speed. Acuna has all the tools to be a rock-solid starting shortstop (and potential All-Star) in the big leagues, though it'll very likely take him another couple years to arrive.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Returns from IL
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Acuna (hamstring) was reinstated from High-A Hickory's 7-day injured list Thursday and has gone 1-for-7 with two walks and two runs in his first two games since being activated.
Acuna was sidelined for just under a month with the strained hamstring he sustained in his High-A debut in early April. The younger brother of Ronald Acuna is expected to spend the majority of the 2022 campaign with Hickory.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Working toward return
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Acuna (hamstring) is rehabbing in extended spring training and should return to High-A Hickory late next week, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reports.
Acuna strained his hamstring in Hickory's season opener and was originally supposed to miss at least two weeks. It looks as though he'll miss approximately three weeks instead, but he's trending in the right direction and shouldn't have his development set back significantly.
Acuna will miss at least two weeks with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reports.
Acuna suffered the injury during High-A Hickory's season opener Friday. As long as the injury remains a fairly short-term problem, it shouldn't significantly set his development back this season.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Expected to start 2022 in High-A
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Acuna is expected to open 2022 at High-A Hickory, according to Baseball America.
He got off to a terrible start last season, so his final batting line (.266/.345/.404) at Low-A doesn't jump off the page. That said, Acuna was only 19, and he ended up hitting 12 homers and swiping 44 bases, with his 10.4 percent walk rate offering some promise as well. He'll likely never develop the power that his brother, Ronald, has shown off in the majors, but Luisangel is flashing plenty of promise in his own right. It's not unreasonable to think that a big 2022 could get him on the radar for a promotion sometime in 2023.
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Rangers' Luisangel Acuna: Rounding into form in Low-A
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Acuna has hit .377 with two homers, 13 steals, 14 RBI, 18 runs and a 13:19 BB:K across his last 21 games for Low-A Down East.
Ronald Acuna's little brother got off to a horribly slow start this year, hitting just .165/.280/.291 in May, but he's improved by leaps and bounds since, lifting his season line to .284/.382/.432 with six homers and 24 steals. He's still just 19 and not fully developed physically, so it's not terribly surprising that Acuna's power hasn't shown up yet, but there's a lot to like about his speed and on-base ability. Having mastered Low-A at this point, it seems likely that Acuna will get promoted to High-A before the summer's out.
