What the Rangers Gave Up to Mets in Exchange for Max Scherzer Top Prospect Luisangel Acua
What the Rangers Gave Up to Mets in Exchange for Max Scherzer Top Prospect Luisangel Acua.
On Saturday, the Mets extended their fire sale by sending Max Scherzer and money to the Texas Rangers in exchange for promising young player Luisangel Acua.
After sending David Robertson to the Marlins on Friday, the Mets have now made their second trade of the week. The Scherzer trade shows me that nothing is off-limits before the August 1 deadline.
Tommy Pham and Mark Canha seem like lock-ins to be traded, and it appears that Brooks Raley could also be traded.
The huge unknown is whether or not Justin Verlander will also be transferred.
The next 48 hours will reveal that information, but for now, let’s just keep our attention on the Scherzer swap.
There has been much speculation over the past week or two that Scherzer would be difficult to trade owing to his performance and stuff, as well as his salary obligations, and that the Mets would have to demand an extremely valuable prospect from any interested team.
Even though the Mets are reportedly paying more over $30 million for Acuna, I was still amazed they were able to sign him, as reported by Andy Martino of SNY.
He is the son of Ron Acua, who played in the Mets minor league system from 1999 to 2004, and the younger brother of Braves standout Ronald Acua Jr.
Acua was listed as the Rangers’ second-best prospect and MLB’s 87th-best prospect by Baseball America before the trade. He was ranked as high as #3 on the MLB Pipeline and as low as #44.
In 84 games at Double-A Frisco, he hit.315/.377/.453 with 25 doubles, seven home runs, 51 runs batted in, and 42 stolen bases.
He does not seem to have the promise of his older brother, according to conversations with a couple of scouts, and I would never try to put on a 21-year-old kid in Double-A that he has the potential to be a top-five player in the world.
But he has the tools to develop into a solid starter who can contribute across the board.
This year he has made great gains with the bat, reducing his strikeout percentage by roughly 3 percentage points compared to 2022 at the same level.
Even though he still occasionally chases nice breaking balls, he walks when he needs to and has an above-average understanding of the strike zone.
He is a standout both in the field (he has played shortstop, second base, and has begun to dabble in center field) and on the bases (he has stolen 42 bases and been caught only five times), demonstrating his superior athleticism and baseball IQ.
Most evaluators believe his defensive strengths lie in the infield dirt, specifically at shortstop or second base.
However, the Mets have only seen him play four games in the outfield, despite the fact that he has the arm strength to profile there. His feel for the base paths and ability to get excellent jumps on pitchers make him a danger to steal 30 or more bases in the majors.
He might peak as a 15-homer guy, so home run power will probably never be a major component of his game. His slugging percentage will be fueled primarily by extra-base hits, though.
He has improved his swing path this season, resulting in more consistently lofted hits and higher exit velocities. His groundball percentage is still higher than you’d like it to be (49.1% this year), but many who have seen him predict that this will continue to improve.
In my opinion, Acua is now the Mets’ top prospect and will be ranked among the top 50-100 players in the country by every major publication.
Finding a prospect of this caliber in exchange for Scherzer (it doesn’t take a scout to recognize his stuff isn’t the same) has to feel like a win for Mets general manager Billy Eppler and his team.
