Luisangel Acuña
Luisangel José Acuña is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball. He has previously played in MLB for the New York Mets. He made his MLB debut in 2024.
Career
Texas Rangers
Acuña grew up in La Sabana, Venezuela. Acuña had agreed in principle to sign with the Atlanta Braves in 2017, but due to the Braves international signing scandal, Atlanta was stripped of its ability to pay his signing bonus and he returned to the open market. On July 2, 2018, Acuña signed with the Texas Rangers for a $425,000 signing bonus.Acuña made his professional debut with the DSL Rangers of the rookie-level Dominican Summer League in 2019, hitting.342/.438/.455 with two home runs, 29 runs batted in, and 17 stolen bases, and was named to the DSL All-Star team. He did not play in any games in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acuña spent the 2021 season with the Down East Wood Ducks of the Low-A East. Over 111 games, he hit.266/.345/.404 with 12 home runs, 74 RBIs, and 44 stolen bases. Acuña was named the Rangers 2021 minor league Defender of the Year. Acuña opened the 2022 season with the Hickory Crawdads of the High-A South Atlantic League, hitting.317/.417/.483 with eight home runs, 29 RBIs, and 28 stolen bases over 54 games. He was promoted to the Frisco RoughRiders of the Double-A Texas League on August 2 and finished the season after hitting.224/.302/.349 with three home runs, 18 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases for Frisco. Acuña played for the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League following the 2022 season, and was named to the Fall League All-Star team.
On November 15, 2022, the Rangers added Acuña to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Acuña was optioned back to Frisco to begin the 2023 season.
New York Mets
On July 30, 2023, the Rangers traded Acuña to the New York Mets in exchange for Max Scherzer and cash considerations. In 37 games, he batted.243/.317/.304 with 2 home runs, 12 RBI, and 15 stolen bases. Acuña began the 2024 season with the Triple–A Syracuse Mets. In 2024, Acuña played second base, shortstop and center field, and led Syracuse in stolen bases. In 131 games for Triple–A Syracuse, he batted.258/.299/.355 with 7 home runs and 50 RBI.On September 14, 2024, the Mets promoted Acuña to the major leagues and he made his major league debut the same day against the Philadelphia Phillies. He recorded his first major league hit, a single to center field off of pitcher Taijuan Walker in the fourth inning. On September 17, during a game against the Washington Nationals, Acuña hit his first major league home run off of pitcher Joe La Sorsa, leading the Mets to a 10–1 victory. In 2024, Acuña appeared in 14 games, batting.308/.325/.641 with 3 home runs and 6 RBI.
Acuña was named to the Mets' Opening Day roster for the 2025 season. By the end of April, he was slashing.288/.342/.356 with a.698 OPS, 13 runs scored, 3 RBI, and 7 stolen bases. On May 2, Acuña was rewarded with the National League Rookie of the Month Award for April for the first time in his career. However, on June 23, Acuna was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse.