The New York Mets acquired outfielder Tyler Naquin and left-hander Philip Diehl from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for right-hander Jose Acuna and utility player Hector Rodriguez. The teams announced the trade on Twitter.
It marks the Mets’ second notable trade of the month, joining last week’s deal that netted them Daniel Vogelbach from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Naqin, 31, is an incoming free agent who emerged as a useful platoon bat during two seasons with the Reds. He is batting .262/.324/.462 (104 OPS+) with 25 home runs and eight stolen bases (on 13 attempts) over his last 182 games. Much of his loss has come against right-handed pitching, as he entered Thursday with a .279/.339/.510 slash line over that span when awarded the platoon advantage.
Knockin figures to serve in a platoon or pinch-hit capacity for the Mets. At the very least, he should represent an upgrade over Travis Jankowski, the Mets’ current top reserve outfielder.
Diehl, 28, has appeared in five games with the Reds’ big league team this season, giving him 21 for his career. He has a 9.47 ERA (55 ERA+) and a 2.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio in all those appearances. He throws a low-90s fastball with good spin and slider.
Acuña, 19, has a 2.88 ERA and 3.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 40 career innings. He recently debuted in A-Ball, Where Statcast data had it topped out in the mid-90s.. Neither FanGraphs nor Baseball America ranked him among the Mets’ 30 best prospects.
Rodríguez, 18, is a career .321/.377/.500 hitter who split this season between a minor league and A-ball. He was ranked as the Mets’ 30th best prospect by FanGraphs in the preseason.Eric Longenhagen noted that he has “plus-plus beat control” despite “very little physical projection”.
