PHILADELPHIA — Two weeks ago, the Mets opted against calling up infielder/outfielder Luisangel Acuña, citing a lack of playing time as the reason. A 22-year-old prospect, he needed to be playing every day to develop and the Mets simply didn’t have enough at-bats for him at the big league level.
That changed Friday night when Francisco Lindor tweaked his back. The Mets had been toying with the idea of adding Acuña’s speed already and when Lindor was removed from an 11-3 win with lower-back tightness, they decided they needed infield depth.
The Mets made the call to promote Acuña to the big leagues for the first time Saturday morning, throwing him right into the fire in a huge series against an NL East rival. No pressure, kid.
“It’s the entirety of the skill set,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “The positional versatility, the quality defense up the middle wherever you put him, and the ability on the basepaths.”
With an OPS under .700, Acuña hasn’t quite lived up to the hype this season, but the Mets feel as though they’ve seen enough improvement to trust him in the midst of a playoff chase, plus they see some benefit in having him in a big league clubhouse for a few weeks. Acuña has played center field, second base and shortstop in Triple-A this season, but the Mets expect to keep him mostly in the infield this month. They’re hoping to take advantage of his speed and base-running, with Acuña having swiped 40 bases this year.
“The fact that he put himself in this position, we are all proud of him,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “There are going to be days like today where he’ll get the start. There might be a day where I want to give [Jose] Iglesias a day off, especially with where we are the next 10 days not having an off-day, he could play [at second base].”
Iglesias, playing second base in place of the injured Jeff McNeil, mentored Acuña in Syracuse earlier this season, so they’re comfortable with that double-play duo defensively. Acuña is essentially playing the same role as Eddy Alvarez and the Mets only traded for him this week. Alvarez certainly has more Major League experience, but since he joined the team in September, he’s ineligible for the postseason. The Mets aren’t ready to commit a postseason roster spot to their No. 12 prospect, but they also aren’t looking that far ahead to begin with.
They have to secure a postseason berth first and they think Acuña can aid in that quest.
“I think what we’re seeing is the continued maturation of a player,” Stearns said. “We’ve asked him to play multiple positions. He’s played all of them, I think, at a pretty high level, continuing to develop. And then from an approach standpoint at the plate, we’ve seen continued maturation. Had a little bit of an up-and-down year, but he’s controlling the strike zone a little bit better as we’ve gone along through the course of the year, and we’re excited to see him here.”
Mendoza didn’t say whether or not Acuña has a green light to steal once he gets on base, but the manager did say he feels comfortable letting Acuña run, and that he trusts the decisions of baserunning coordinator Antoan Richardson. Acuña was caught stealing 14 times this season at the highest level he’s ever played at and will now face even better catchers in the Major Leagues.
But the Mets want him to continue to develop his baserunning and think the big leagues will provide a good test.
“We’ve already had that conversation with him,” Mendoza said. “It’s part of his game and part of the development. He needs to continue to learn and pick his spots because the speed is there. But now, we’ve got to continue to continue to help him with the jump, something that he’s been working on in the minor leagues. They’ve done a really good job of continuing to help him, but I do feel good with him going out there and getting on base for us.”
BLACKBURN UPDATE
It’s highly unlikely that Paul Blackburn will pitch again this season. The right-hander is dealing with a spinal fluid leak in his mid-back, something Stearns said isn’t as scary as it sounds, but also isn’t exactly a common baseball injury. However, because it’s so uncommon, the Mets aren’t entirely sure what they’re dealing with at the moment.
“This is not a long-term scary health situation,” Stearns said. “It sounds troubling, but clearly it’s an unusual baseball injury and that has led to the back discomfort that he felt got progressively worse. We’re working with specialists to figure out the best treatment path for this, but from a timeline perspective, I don’t have one right now.”
Blackburn was shut down from throwing Saturday. He was traded from the Oakland A’s to bolster the rotation depth at the trade deadline but with another year of arbitration left, he’s expected to be a part of the rotation next season.