Inside The Rangers

Watch: Rangers Prospect Luisangel Acuna's First Frisco Homer

The Texas Rangers prospect has been with the RoughRiders for a week and his first Double-A home run was a big one.

Matthew Postins

Texas Rangers prospect Luisangel Acuna hit his first Double-A home run on Saturday in Frisco and he did with a grand slam.

Acuna and the RoughRiders beat Amarillo, 11-2, and his blast drove in four of those runs.

He just wrapped up his first series with the RoughRiders after being called up from High Class-A Hickory before the homestand started on Tuesday.

Acuna appeared in five games and is hitting 235/.409/.471/.880 with the home run and seven RBI. He’s also drawn five walks and struck out twice.

Acuna is the No. 9 prospect in the Rangers’ system, per MLB.com. He followed No. 10 prospect Aaron Zavala, who preceded Acuna to the Roughriders from Hickory the previous week.

He is the brother of Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. But he’s starting to carve out his own name as he moves up in the Rangers organization. He is also a middle infielder, and his progress to the Rangers may be stunted by the fact that the Rangers have heavily invested in second baseman Marcus Semien and shortstop Corey Seager.

He earned the promotion after batting .317/.417/.483/.900 with eight home runs and 29 RBI for Hickory this season. He has 28 stolen bases and has drawn 34 walks while striking out 60 times.

Acuna spent all of 2021 at Low Class-A Down East, where he batted .266/.345/.404/.749 with 12 home runs, 74 RBI and a career-high 44 stolen bases.

Like all Texas prospects, he saw his 2020 season wiped out by COVID-19. But he started his career with the Rangers in 2019 as part of the Arizona Complex League Rangers, where he batted .342/.438/.455/.893 with two home runs and 29 RBI.

The Rangers originally signed Acuna as a free agent on July 2, 2018, out of Caracas, Venezuela.

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Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers for Fan Nation/SI and also writes about the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He also covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com.

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