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By Drew VonScio
Contributing Sports Writer
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Nick Madrigal's shoulder injury is going from bad to worse for the New York Mets as spring training continues.
Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters on Friday that Madrigal is set to have surgery on his fractured shoulder and will miss the entire 2025 season. Madrigal signed a one-year, $1.35 million deal with the Mets on January 31.
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As a result, the door is open for Luisangel Acuña to step into Madrigal's role and force the organization to give its top prospect an opportunity.
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Acuña made his MLB debut at the end of the 2024 season and appeared in 14 games. During that stretch, he hit .308 with three home runs and added six RBI.
Defensively, he was a little above average in the short sample size, both at second base and shortstop. However, he recorded less than 100 innings of work in the field.
Acuña has shown he's ready to be in the Major Leagues. The Mets planned on utilizing Madrigal to help ease Acuña into the workload, but the latter is more than capable of being the third infielder. He will rotate between second and shortstop in place of Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor.
The only way Acuña is going to excel and finish his development is by getting consistent playing time at the major league level. It's a bit of a gamble for Mendoza to use him as the third infielder, but he's shown he is ready for it. The Mets would be doing him a disservice if they don't utilize him as such.
Acuña's spring training numbers haven't been great so far at the plate, but it's very hard to judge spring training stats. Players will thrive in Florida and Arizona but then struggle when the regular season starts. However, the opposite has also happened time and time again.
It's time for the Mets to be aggressive and give Acuña a chance to step into a bigger role.
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