Former Texas Rangers Prospect Dealt in Scherzer Trade Makes Opening Day Debut

The Texas Rangers only had to give up one player to acquire Max Scherzer and he made his opening-day debut for the New York Mets.

Feb 25, 2025; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; New York Mets shortstop Luisangel Acuna (2) throws a baseball into the stands after the second inning against the Houston Astros at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Max Scherzer helped the Texas Rangers win a World Series in 2023. But there’s always a cost to acquiring a player like Scherzer.

While the New York Mets were interested in getting him off his payroll — and were willing to accept having to pay him at least some of the money he was still owed — they also needed something in return.

For a player of Scherzer’s stature, giving up just one prospect is a steal. But, for the Rangers, that prospect turned out to be one of their best ones at the time, infielder Luisangel Acuña.

On Thursday, with the Mets, he made his opening-day debut, starting at second base, against the Houston Astros.

Acuña received a taste of the Majors last season when he played 14 games for the Mets. He slashed .308/.325/.641 with three home runs and six RBI, setting the stage for the chance to make this year’s opening-day roster

Before he joined the Mets, he started his professional career wth the Rangers after he signed as an international free agent in 2018.

He showed plenty of promise with the Rangers’ Dominican Summer League team in 2019, where he slashed .342/.438/.455 with two home runs and 29 RBI. But he didn’t get to make any additional progress until 2021 because minor league baseball shut down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the next two seasons he made steady progress that merited inclusion among the Rangers’ Top 30 prospects at MLB Pipeline. By the end of the 2022 season, he had worked his way up to Double-A Frisco. But his pathway to the Majors was blocked.

The Rangers had answers at his best positions — second base (Marcus Semien) and shortstop (Corey Seager). Two other prospects, Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran, had earned spots as super-utility players.

So, the Rangers used Acuña to acquire Scherzer and shore up their starting rotation for what they hoped would be a run to a World Series title. That ended up being the case.

After the trade, Acuña spent the rest of the 2023 at Double-A Binghamton. Combined with his time at Frisco, he slashed .294/.359/.410/.769 with nine home runs and 63 RBI.

Last year with Triple-A Syracuse the now 23-year-old slashed .258/.299/.355 with seven home runs and 50 RBI.

He’s better known for his defense and running ability. In the minor leagues he had 198 stolen bases in 505 games.

Acuña is the younger brother of Atlanta Braves Star Ronald Acuña Jr., who is expected back sometime this season after tearing his ACL in 2024.