NEW YORK — The temperature was 6 degrees above freezing the first time Luisangel Acuña strolled onto the grass at Citi Field. He wore a starter jacket, tight gray jeans and Air Jordans. Only a handful of people were there.
It was Jan. 31, and the undersized Mets prospect was in the Big Apple to accompany his older half-brother, Ronald, the 2023 National League MVP, to the annual Baseball Writers Association of America award dinner, where Ronald was set to accept his golden trophy in person.
The younger Acuña, traded to the Mets from the Rangers the previous summer for future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, had not yet been to Queens, and he wanted to visit his future home.