For Luisangel Acuña, at-bats became hard to come by.
The 23-year-old infielder was stuck behind Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor and Brett Baty on the Mets’ depth chart, and with third baseman Mark Vientos nearing his return from a hamstring strain, playing time was set to be even more precious.
Sunday’s series finale in Philadelphia marked Acuña’s first start in a week.
So for the sake of his development, the Mets optioned Acuña to Triple-A Syracuse on Monday amid a flurry of roster moves.
“For his development and where we’re at in the regular season, what we want to see is for him to get at-bats, play every day, because it’s hard for me to judge him right now, [and for] for all of us as an organization,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.
The Mets called up outfielder Travis Jankowski, and they signed left-handed reliever Richard Lovelady to a one-year MLB contract and added him to the active roster. They also sent right-hander reliever Tyler Zuber to Triple-A.
But the optioning of Acuña represented the most significant transaction, considering he had been with the big-league club since Opening Day.
Acuña won National League Rookie of the Month for March/April after he batted .288 with seven stolen bases while receiving consistent playing time.
But McNeil returned from an oblique strain in late April, while Baty delivered a strong May and played regularly.
Acuña had largely been relegated to a pinch-runner and defensive replacement in recent weeks. He totaled only 18 at-bats in June before he was sent down.
“He became that role guy that helped us win a lot of baseball games with the defensive versatility, with the way he ran the bases,” Mendoza said. “He was impacting it, but it got to a point now where it was getting very difficult to get him some playing time.”
The move came a day after the Mets optioned another prized young player, catcher Francisco Alvarez, to Triple-A to continue his development with more regular playing time.
Acquired in the 2023 trade that sent Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers, the speedy Acuña quickly emerged as one of the Mets’ top prospects and made his MLB debut last season.
After his strong April, Acuña struggled at the plate in May and June, dropping his season average to .241 and his OPS to .576.
He was sent down ahead of a three-game series at Citi Field against the Atlanta Braves, whom his brother, Ronald Acuña Jr., plays for.
Mendoza said the Mets envision Jankowski filling the pinch-runner role that Acuña held. Jankowski, who became a fan favorite during a 43-game stint with the Mets in 2022, rejoined the team on a minor-league contract earlier this month.
Lovelady, meanwhile, has a 5.26 ERA over 110 career appearances with the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.
He allowed four runs in 1.2 innings over two appearances with Toronto this season.
Lovelady joins José Castillo as left-handers in the Mets’ bullpen. The Mets lost lefties A.J. Minter and Danny Young to season-ending injuries.
ON THE MARK
Vientos isn’t quite ready to be activated from the injured list.
The Mets expect the infielder to play the full nine innings with Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday, then DH on Wednesday before they figure out his next steps.
Vientos is 2-for-17 with three RBI in four rehab games.
“He’s feeling better,” Mendoza said. “It’s just more getting the volume up now.”
Vientos, 25, hit .230 with six home runs and 21 RBI in 53 games before landing on the injured list on June 3 with the right hamstring strain.
