NY Mets need to open up a barely used door for Luisangel Acuña

The New York Mets can’t keep doing the Luisangel Acuña thing halfway.

Because right now, he’s in the worst possible baseball limbo: too good an athlete to stash, too shaky a bat to trust, and too boxed in defensively to matter unless you manufacture a role for him. If Acuña is going to be on the roster in 2026, the Mets will need to stop treating him like a luxury pinch-runner who occasionally puts on an infielder’s glove. That’s not job security. It’s a cameo.

The 2025 numbers tell you exactly why this conversation exists. In 95 MLB games, Acuña logged just 193 plate appearances and hit .234/.293/.274 with zero homers, and a 65 wRC+ that screams “not ready to be a bat-first regular.” But he also stole 16 bases (caught once) and popped as one of the fastest players in the sport — 29.6 ft/sec sprint speed, 97th percentile. 

The Mets need to unlock Luisangel Acuña’s only clean path to playing time

Let’s get more specific: if Acuña can’t credibly play center field, he’s borderline redundant. Every team has a guy who can run. Every contender can find a late-inning defensive replacement. But a true center-field capable speed demon who can also bounce around the dirt? That’s a way to win the margins across a full season.

The organization has been nudging this for a while — he had real reps in center field in Triple-A and has appeared there in the majors. The logic is obvious: the infield is never going to be “open.” At least not while Francisco Lindor and Marcus Semien exist. The Mets are always collecting infielders. Even when the names change, the traffic jam doesn’t. So if Acuña is staying, the Mets have to create the lane — and center field is the perfect lane.

It’s also not optional anymore. Acuña is out of minor league options entering 2026. So it’s keep him on the roster, or risk losing him. That reality should force clarity.

And yes, the projections quietly back up the “utility-only” fear: Steamer pegs him for something like a light-hitting, part-time profile (roughly 175 PA with modest pop. That’s what happens when the playing time is murky. But the upside case is obvious: if Acuña becomes a legitimate center-field option, the Mets aren’t projecting a bench piece anymore — they’re projecting access to playing time. And with that comes the chaos speed he’s built to change games with.