Luisangel Acuña Has Become an Underrated Trade Acquisition for the White Sox
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When former All-Star center fielder Luis Robert Jr. was traded by the Chicago White Sox in the offseason, it seemed like more than just a salary dump.
They acquired former top-100 prospect Luisangel Acuña and minor league pitcher Truman Pauley, shedding Robert's expensive contract in the process. The move gave the team additional cap flexibility that allowed them to sign reliever Seranthony Domínguez and others.
To be sure, both Acuña and Domínguez have since faced their struggles. But the bigger the sample size becomes for Acuña, the more he looks like a very solid piece of that blockbuster trade.
Could the White Sox' Luis Roberts Jr. Trade Become a Win?
Luis Robert's career with the White Sox was marred by injuries and inconsistency, making it a "what if" situation for the former top prospect. In his final season in Chicago, he slashed just .223/.297/.364 with 14 home runs.
Luisangel Acuña was brought in to be the White Sox's starting center fielder of the future. That didn't turn out well on both sides of the ball. By mid-May, he was batting under .180 with a sub-.410 OPS and just one extra-base hit.
It wasn't much better on the defensive side of the ball, earning -2 Outs Above Average in center field, per Baseball Savant. The emergence of All-Star center fielder Tristan Peters made it an easy decision to take Acuña away from his starting role.
The only other position Acuña could play was shortstop, but Colson Montgomery had it locked down. However, first baseman Munetaka Murakami's hamstring injury made third baseman Miguel Vargas move to first against left-handed pitchers, with Montgomery manning third. Acuña finally had a spot against left-handers. And the stats gradually started to improve.
On June 21, he hit his first home run with the White Sox, which happened to be a go-ahead blast. In his last 30 games, he has now slashed .389/.400/.481 with seven stolen bases. The speed was always there. He just needed to get on base enough to utilize it.
His OPS has risen to .570, and his defense at shortstop has gotten substantially better over time. His expected batting average is now .262 with a 30.0 percent squared-up rate – both well above average.
While Acuña rises, Robert continues to fall. Limited to only 27 games this year, he's slashing just .211/.306/.337 with three home runs. His defense has fallen as well, with -1 Outs Above Average in center field this year.
None of this is to say that Acuña is destined to be a long-term piece for this young group. The White Sox obviously have a lot of fascinating infield prospects to turn to in the coming years.
However, it's starting to feel like shedding Robert's contract and adding a promising piece like the former top-100 prospect may have been worth it. Acuña has been a legitimately impactful player for this White Sox team in the AL Central race, and there are no signs of that changing during this second half of the season.
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Matthew Singer is a contributor for White Sox on SI. Before joining SI in 2026, he worked for Heavy as an MLB contributor and Cubs on SI. Singer has a master's degree in sports journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He loves sports more than anything in the world.