NY Mets injury is a perfect excuse to deploy Luisangel Acuna at a new position

Jose Siri exited Saturday’s game early after fouling a ball off his leg and has fallen into the dreaded day-to-day injury status. Starting off the year 1 for 20, his bat won’t be missed. The New York Mets will seemingly hand over all of the innings possible to Tyrone Taylor in center field. Why stop there?

This isn’t a season of self-discovery and yet the team has been experimental. Brett Baty at second base is the biggest example. While his defense has been so-so, it qualifies.

Meanwhile, the team has been hesitant to do anything unique with Luisangel Acuna. He is playing mostly second base with one start at shortstop when Francisco Lindor welcomed the birth of his son. Acuna logged 31 of his 35 professional games in center field last year in Syracuse. Has the project been abandoned or do the Mets have the perfect excuse to give him a few innings there right now?

A few innings in center field for Luisangel Acuna wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Mets

For what it’s worth, Acuna made 3 errors in 90 chances. It comes out to a .967 fielding percentage which is pretty bad for an outfielder. He was better at second base in the minors as far as fielding percentage goes. Two of the center field errors came last year, the other with Frisco back in 2023.

Fielding percentage and even range won’t tell us exactly how good of a transition Acuna could make into becoming a decent center fielder. He has been solid at second base for the team this season. An early error has already been forgotten everywhere but the stat books.

Playing time for Acuna could decrease drastically when Jeff McNeil returns. As down on him as many are, he is more proven and a favorite to start regularly at least against right-handed pitchers. Acuna will have his use. However, with two center fielders performing as poorly as Siri and Taylor have done, there should be an openness to seeing, yet again, what Acuna can offer.

It seems the Mets aren’t quite sold on any specific center fielder of the future. Jett Williams has been playing shortstop this season in Double-A. Drew Gilbert has played a lot of center field since getting traded to the Mets, but his stumped bat makes him questionable as an everyday player.

Predictably, Taylor gets the start on Sunday with Acuna at second base. Brett Baty moves over to third base to replace a slumping Mark Vientos. Acuna has, thus far, been used as the unstrict righty/lefty platoon mate of Baty’s without unleashing much versatility. Will this change? For a few innings, if the opportunity arises, it should.