Inside The Mets

Mets provide telling Luisangel Acuña update amid hit by pitch

New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza provided an update on Luisangel Acuña after Saturday's hit by pitch.
Grant Young|
Feb 23, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets shortstop Luisangel Acuna (2) fields a ground ball during the third inning against the Miami Marlins at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images
Feb 23, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets shortstop Luisangel Acuna (2) fields a ground ball during the third inning against the Miami Marlins at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

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The New York Mets appear to have an interesting competition at spring training to decide who'll be manning second base come 2025 Opening Day.

Initially, it seemed this competition would be between newly-signed Nick Madrigal, veteran Jeff McNeil, and top prospect Luisangel Acuña. However, after Madrigal went down with a broken and dislocated shoulder during one of the Mets' first spring training games and is expected to miss the entire 2025 season as a result.

Therefore, the competition for second base (barring the Mets re-signing Jose Iglesias) would now appear to be between McNeil or Acuña. However, another potential hitch in this competition arrived in the second inning of New York's March 1 game against the Tampa Bay Rays when Acuña was hit by a pitch in his left arm/elbow area.

While Acuña remained in the game to run the bases, he did not return to the field during the bottom half of the inning.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke with the media before his team's March 2 spring training game against the Boston Red Sox. And at one point in his discussion, Mendoza provided an update on Acuña.

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"[He's] feeling better today, just talked to him. He's not going to swing that bat today," Mendoza said of Acuña, per an X post from SNY. "We're going to give him an extra day. He's going to do defensive work and all that and we'll re-evaluate tomorrow.

"But talking to him, he's in a good spot. Again, we're just going to give him an extra day," Mendoza added. "So as of right now, not too concerned."

When asked if Acuña had any further tests, Mendoza said, "No, no. And he's not even swollen. We're just going to give him an extra day. Like I said, he's going to do defensive work and we'll re-evaluate tomorrow."

Mets fans can now breathe a sigh of relief, as they have seemingly dodged yet another spring training injury.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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