These once-dismissed Reds prospects are becoming the Mets’ next big embarrassment

As the New York Mets face the reality of their $800 million man having the worst season of his career, former prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong is among the early NL MVP Award favorites. PCA would hardly be the first Mets prospect to slip from the team’s grasp and rise to stardom with another club.

Three-time Gold Glover Andrés Giménez and breakout White Sox reliever Mike Vasil are also part of the former Mets prospect club. The Cincinnati Reds hope they’re sitting on the next two players in the pattern.

When the Reds acquired Héctor Rodríguez and Jose Acuña from New York in the Tyler Naquin trade in 2022, neither were ranked in MLB.com’s Mets prospects Rodríguez snuck his way onto the Reds’ list in 2023 while Acuña has never cracked the list. Thanks to standout performances at Double-A Chattanooga, they may not be overlooked much longer.

Hot Reds prospects Héctor Rodríguez and Jose Acuña are yet another Mets mistake

Rodríguez, a corner outfielder, is getting his first taste of the level and is demonstrating substantial improvements and growth. At times criticized for his free-swinging approach, he has increased his walk rate from 4.8% to 10.9% while maintaining a strikeout rate of about 14%. He has also started to feature more power and is already halfway to his 2024 home run total.

His numbers, particularly his .484 slugging percentage, should come with a bit of a caveat given the Southern League’s hitter-friendly reputation, but at just 21, Rodríguez has plenty of time to adjust as he moves to more neutral or pitching-friendly environments.

On the pitching front, Acuña is steadily working his way back from an injury-marred 2025. The right-hander has already surpassed his innings total from 2024 and is markedly better in nearly every statistical category. He’s generating strikeouts and ground balls at rates better than he has in previous seasons.

The control issues that popped up during Acuña’s Arizona Fall League stint this offseason have stuck around, though. He seems to have found a way to skirt around his walks and limit damage, which could be the key to a promotion. He has an 89.5% left on base rate. While this rate is probably unsustainable (only Jacob deGrom has those kinds of numbers), it at least suggests that Acuña is steady under pressure.

As of now, neither of these prospects is on track to make an immediate impact in Cincinnati. Acuña needs to build up his workload, and Rodríguez should take more time against high-level pitchers in Double- and Triple-A. At best, they will make their debut toward the end of next season. The timing of that, though, couldn’t be better with a number of key players in the outfield and the rotation hitting free agency after 2026. Perhaps the Reds can finally look internally for the next big thing.

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