This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

WASHINGTON -- There may not be a Mets prospect with more eyes on him than Luisangel Acuña. Around the baseball industry, the Mets’ ability to extract Acuña from the Rangers for Max Scherzer, on July 30, 2023, was largely considered a coup. But the 22-year-old Acuña is not without his doubters, making this season -- the youngster’s first at Triple-A -- a significant one.

So far, Acuña (Mets' No. 5 prospect, No. 93 overall) has passed most tests, acquitting himself well to the highest level of the Minors despite a few dry spells along the way. Over his last 20 games, Acuña is batting .337/.387/.477 with seven extra-base hits, 15 RBIs, six stolen bases and a very reasonable 14.9 percent strikeout rate.

“I think the resilience he showed the first half of the year, to where he is right now, is the best indicator that there’s future success out there in front of him,” Mets vice president of player development Andy Green said recently. “You keep that resilience about you, you’ll bounce back and you’ll make adjustments.”

Since Acuña arrived at Triple-A, Syracuse hitting coach Collin Hetzler and bench coach J.P. Arencibia have worked with him on handling velocity better, which has resulted in more pulled hits to left field. Team officials have been pleased with Acuña’s ability, as Green noted, to put himself “in some more repeatable positions” mechanically.

“He’s showing some of that ability, and he’s showing resilience,” Green said. “I think those are the most encouraging things. You can look at underlying metrics. You can evaluate it very closely. There are some things we like that we look at. But ultimately, are you resilient? Are you adaptable? If you’re both of those things, you have a really good chance at success.”

Other top performers over the first half of the Minor League season include:

Double-A Binghamton: Right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat, the Mets’ second-round Draft pick last July, has been featured in this newsletter only about umpteen times since the start of the season. There’s a reason for that. Sproat, who just entered MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 rankings at No. 98, may boast the highest ceiling of any pitcher in the organization. Since moving to Binghamton on May 13, the Mets’ No. 6 prospect has gone undefeated with a 1.94 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings over 13 starts.

High-A Brooklyn: Brooklyn is home to a pair of breakout prospects, outfielder Nick Morabito (No. 26 prospect) and pitcher Jonah Tong (No. 20 prospect), who both began the season at Single-A St. Lucie. Morabito, the organization’s second-round Draft pick in 2022, makes up for his lack of over-the-fence power with a high contact rate and excellent speed. Tong was one of the buzziest prospects in baseball early this season, based on his dominant run of starts at St. Lucie. While the right-hander has proven mortal at Brooklyn (3.38 ERA in 10 starts), he’s still in a good place just after his 21st birthday.

Single-A St. Lucie: Infielder Jesus Baez (No. 22 prospect) earned a promotion to Brooklyn on June 24, but since he’s spent the bulk of this season at St. Lucie, he’s worth a shoutout here. Earlier in the year, one scout quipped that Baez was “murdering baseballs” in the Florida State League, as evidenced by his 11 home runs and strong exit velocities over 70 games at that level. While questions remain regarding Baez’s ability to stick at shortstop defensively, he could have enough thunder in his bat to make third base a reasonable destination.