MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Luisangel Acuna might be the White Sox\u2019 center fielder, or at the least one of them, but he\u2019s far from a finished product at a spot that was manned marvelously \u2014 when he was available \u2014 by Luis Robert Jr. the last six seasons.<\/p>\n
Acuna was acquired by general manager Chris Getz in the payroll-trimming trade with the Mets in exchange for Robert on Jan. 20 and, despite playing only three innings over two major-league games in center (and none at the corner outfield spots), is getting looked at there as the primary replacement.<\/p>\n
Before being sidelined with a cut after making a headfirst slide stealing second base Wednesday against the Reds, Acuna was busy getting work in during the first weeks of spring training in center. Four stitches above his left eye kept him out of the lineup but not from fully participating on the back fields.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he [just needs] reps,\u201d manager Will Venable said. \u201cWe talked about a lot of different things with him. Certainly the pre-pitch is something guys going from infield to outfield, there\u2019s a little bit of a different timing component he\u2019s picking up. He does great in space and is flying around the field. Throwing is something that\u2019s a little different, too. It\u2019s a little bit of a different arm stroke.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acuna\u2019s athleticism is exceptional, so the tools are there. But he\u2019s going to need time, and the development will carry over into the season. Miguel Cairo, the Mets\u2019 minor-league field coordinator in 2023, endorsed Acuna\u2019s work habits to the Sox\u2019 front office.<\/p>\n
His throwing is being addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different mindset with throwing,\u201d Venable said of the outfield. \u201cWe are working on the footwork and being able to hit the cutoff man. So he\u2019s out there throwing to bases, and he understands the responsibilities of an outfielder and putting in all the work to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acuna as a work in progress defensively is the centerpiece of an outfield that might not save many runs for the Sox\u2019 pitching staff. A skeptic might say they have a designated hitter (Andrew Benintendi) in left, an infielder (Acuna) in center and a left fielder (Austin Hays, who has played a significant majority of his career there) in right. Benintendi was a minus-0.9 bWar player in left, compromised by a sore Achilles and a below-average arm.<\/p>\n
Limited by health issues the last two seasons in Cincinnati and Baltimore, Hays is regarded as an above-average defender, but he\u2019ll be asked to play the more demanding corner in right. Hays also can play center, and \u201cin the spirit of versatility\u201d Venable is pushing, he\u2019ll be asked to move around.<\/p>\n
Outfielder\/infielder Brooks Baldwin, who misplayed a ball in the sun in center Sunday, also is in the mix.<\/p>\n
Perhaps Acuna, who played center field in winter ball, can make the right moves to establish himself there. He says he likes it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy, I\u2019m very happy,\u201d Acuna said of his adjustment to a new position, team and surroundings. \u201cI feel good here. There\u2019s a good vibe here, and I feel like I belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert no longer belongs, in large part because he couldn\u2019t stay on the field enough, beset by injuries in all but one season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most frustrating thing in baseball is a guy with off-the-charts talent whose body doesn\u2019t allow him to show it on a daily basis,\u201d broadcaster Steve Stone said. \u201cI hope he can stay healthy consistently in New York. When he was healthy, he was devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so the Sox moved on to the next experiment in center. The Sox can only hope Acuna is one day mentioned in the same sentence as \u201cdevastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stay tuned to see how it develops.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very comfortable in center field,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m excited about having this opportunity to play there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Luisangel Acuna might be the White Sox\u2019 center fielder, or at the least one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-508980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}