{"id":514816,"date":"2026-01-11T08:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/514816\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T08:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:12:13","slug":"mets-infielder-luisangel-acuna-hits-four-home-runs-in-winter-league-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/514816\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets infielder Luisangel Acu\u00f1a hits four home runs in winter league game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luisangel Acu\u00f1a nearly matched his entire career stat line in a single game.<\/p>\n

The speedy Mets infielder \u2014 who did not go deep once during the 2025 season \u2014 crushed four home runs and drove in seven runs for the Cardenales de Lara in a Venezuelan Professional Baseball League contest Saturday.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old, who started the game in center field, launched his first homer in the second inning \u2014 a three-run shot that drove in a pair of former Mets: catcher Ali S\u00e1nchez and outfielder Rafael Ortega.<\/p>\n

\"NewLuisangel Acu\u00f1a hit four homers during a Venezuelan winter league game on Jan. 10, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

His next blast came in the sixth, a solo shot off former Dodgers pitcher Darien N\u00fa\u00f1ez that pushed the Cardenales\u2019 lead to 16\u20137.<\/p>\n

Acu\u00f1a added another solo homer in the seventh before capping the night with a two-run shot in the ninth \u2014 this one coming off a position player \u2014 as Lara coasted to a 21\u20139 win in front of 4,728 fans at Estadio Nueva Esparta.<\/p>\n

All told, Acu\u00f1a finished 4-for-6 with four homers, seven RBIs and a walk, becoming the first player in Venezuelan winter league history to hit four home runs in a single game.<\/p>\n

After struggling at the plate for much of his brief MLB career, Acu\u00f1a\u2019s home run derby-esque performance in Venezuela was reminiscent of his older brother, former NL MVP Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.<\/p>\n

Acquired from the Rangers in the Max Scherzer deal<\/a> at the 2023 trade deadline, Acu\u00f1a entered 2024 ranked by MLB.com<\/a> as the Mets\u2019 third-best prospect.<\/p>\n

The Mets promoted Acu\u00f1a to the majors on Sept. 14, 2024, and he impressed in 14 games, slashing .308\/.325\/.641 with three homers and six RBIs.<\/p>\n

He carried that momentum into the start of 2025, hitting .288\/.342\/.356 with seven stolen bases and 13 runs scored through the end of April, earning NL Rookie of the Month honors.<\/p>\n

But Acu\u00f1a fell into a deep slump in May and June and was demoted to Triple-A.<\/p>\n

The versatile infielder \u2014 who played at second base, third base, shortstop and center field \u2014 was recalled July 10 and spent the rest of the season shuttling between the minors and majors, frequently entering games as a pinch runner and defensive replacement.<\/p>\n

In 95 games during the 2025 season, Acu\u00f1a slashed .234\/.293\/.274 with no home runs and eight RBIs.<\/p>\n

Acu\u00f1a is out of minor-league options entering 2026, meaning the Mets would risk losing him on waivers if they try to send him down.<\/p>\n

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns praised Acu\u00f1a\u2019s skill set in November, insisting he doesn\u2019t need to be an elite hitter to provide value.<\/p>\n

\"NewAfter winning Rookie of the Month honors for April last season, Luisangel Acu\u00f1a fell into a deep slump, shuttling between the minors and majors the rest of 2025. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

\u201cAcu\u00f1a is such a unique player because the floor is so high of what he can provide,\u201d Stearns told reporters at the GM Meetings.<\/a> \u201cHe\u2019s such a good defender, a gifted defender at multiple positions, and an elite baserunner. So the offensive contribution doesn\u2019t need to be elite for him to solidify an everyday role on a major league team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have very high hopes for him. We need to see a little bit more offensive contribution than we\u2019ve probably seen previously, but he is a very, very good defensive player and there\u2019s a real role for that on a good team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luisangel Acu\u00f1a nearly matched his entire career stat line in a single game. The speedy Mets infielder \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,9411,2186,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185,8814],"class_list":{"0":"post-514816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-david-stearns","10":"tag-luisangel-acuna","11":"tag-mets","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-mets","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkmets","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-venezuela"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115875462925438694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}