HOUSTON — Luisangel Acuña impressed during his 14-game big league stint last September, and with the Mets unable to land a utility infielder in time for Opening Day, the 23-year-old will get a chance to show that those 14 games weren’t an aberration.
The club released its 26-man roster Thursday ahead of their Opening Day matchup against the Houston Astros at the newly-renamed Daikin Park. Acuña was not only on the roster, but in the lineup against left-hander Framber Valdez. He’ll get some time as a utility infielder in the early days of the season.
“He earned it too, you know?” manager Carlos Mendoza said Thursday. “I think it was one of those where you never know is going to be out there, and you’re still looking to try to improve the team. But we had a pretty good idea that Acuña was going to be there for us because he earned it, not only in spring training, but the way he played for us last year. And here he is getting an opportunity.”
Last year, playing in place of the injured Francisco Lindor, Acuña went 12-for-39 (.308) with three home runs in the thick of a playoff chase. It was somewhat surprising given that he had posted relatively poor numbers in Triple-A Syracuse, but the Mets quickly discovered that Acuña plays well when the stakes are the highest.
“I’ve seen it before, not only with Acuña, but a lot of players,” Mendoza said. “When they’re down in the minor leagues, for some reason when you put them in the spotlight and under the bright lights, you have that third deck and a lot of people, they respond a lot different. I’ve seen it the other way too, guys that perform really well in the minor leagues and in Triple-A come to the big leagues and they have a hard time. So we saw it with Acuna last year, especially down the stretch when we were chasing the playoff spot, he came in and wasn’t afraid. So hopefully that’s the case again.”
However, there is still some concern that a lack of playing time as a utility infielder will hinder his development, especially when he’s so close to being big-league ready. The Mets plan to mitigate that by platooning him at second base with Brett Baty, who historically has struggled against left-handed pitching. It won’t be a straight platoon, with the Mets planning to give Baty plenty of at-bats against left-handers, but it’s one way to get Acuña playing time.
It’s why he was in the lineup for Opening Day, but with two right-handers slated to pitch for the Astros on Friday and Saturday, the Mets expect Baty to be back in the lineup.