Ronald Acuna Jr.'s brother gets demoted

The New York Mets gave Luisangel Acuña a chance to prove himself in the majors this season, but he is now headed back to the minors.

Acuna, the younger brother of Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr., was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on Monday.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said the team felt they were not able to get Acuña enough playing time to justify keeping him on the MLB roster.

“He had a good April, he was getting consistent time and helped us win a lot of games,” Mendoza told reporters on Monday, via SNY’s John Flanigan. “Then it was a combination of other guys producing and he became that role guy that helped us win a lot of games with his versatility, his base-running — he was still impacting games.

“But it got to a point now where it’s getting difficult to find him playing time, and for his development and where we’re at in the regular season, what we want to see is for him to get regular at-bats and play everyday because it’s hard for us to judge him right now.”

Acuña hit .308 in the month of April, but things went downhill for him quickly after that. He was batting .241 with 23 runs scored and 11 stolen bases before being demoted. The 23-year-old had only gotten 18 plate appearances in the month of June.

Acuña was initially signed by the Texas Rangers. They traded him to the Mets in 2023 for Max Scherzer.

In 2024, Acuña played in 14 games for the Mets and went 12/39 (.308) with two doubles, a triple and three home runs.