Rule 5 Draft Prospect Profile: Francisco Acuna

The 2020 Rule 5 Draft is scheduled to take place on December 10th, 2020, as part of the Winter Meetings and the Pirates have some interesting prospects eligible. We will break down all the Rule 5 players and whether or not the Pirates should worry about losing them or not.

One of the positions that the Pittsburgh Pirates are pretty deep at in the Minor Leagues is middle infield talent. You always hear about the guys who are near Major League ready, like O'Neill Cruz and Rodolfo Castro, but you rarely hear about the prospects in the low levels of the Minor Leagues. One of the guys looking to make his name known in 2021 is infielder Francisco Acuna. The 20-year-old was signed out of Columbia at just 17 and has been playing in Rookie ball in both the Dominican Summer League and the Appalachian League. During that time he has proven to be one of the best defensive players in Rookie Ball and has shown an ability to consistently hit for a high batting average.

At just 20-years-old, he is one of the youngest players eligible for the Rule 5 Draft in the organization. However, that doesn't mean he will be safe from being chosen by a team who shows interest. Acuna is a young middle infielder who is showing an ability to hit for average early in his career. He is more than likely destined for Short-Season West Virginia in 2021, and is hoping his skills from rookie ball will translate to A-Ball. If he is truly to become a top-prospect, 2021 will be the year that he really starts to take off on the Pirates organization. Being that there was no 2020 Minor League season, Acuna had to train at home and he will also be getting some reps in the Columbia Winter League. Teams around the league will have a shot at claiming Acuna in the Minor League Rule 5 Draft and the Pirates have to decide whether or not to protect him.

Columbian Prospect

Before he was even a professional baseball prospect, Acuna was playing against professional baseball players. At 16-years old, he was competing in the Columbian Winter League, which includes some of the top professional baseball prospects and some Major league players. He is a small shortstop, standing at 5'7 150 pounds, but his glove and his speed help him patrol the position with ease. He also showed tremendous plate discipline and hit the ball at a very good clip playing with the older guys. The Pirates ended up signing him as an international free agent, and the 16-year-old was off to start his professional baseball career in the Dominican Republic.

He began to show his age with the Dominican Summer League Pirates as he had sine trouble getting his bat going. In 58 games, he hit just .201 with two home runs and 22 RBI in 189 at-bats. However, it wasn't all bad offensively, as Acuna's plate discipline was his biggest advantage for the team. He finished the year third in the DSL with 53 walks and had an on-base percentage of .386 on the year. He was one of just two players on the DSL Pirates to walk more times than he struck out during the season. Because he was getting on base so much, he was able to use his speed effectively as he swiped 19 bags in 22 tries, leading the DSL Pirates. His defense was ok, but not great, as he committed 12 errors in 46 innings of work for a .948 fielding percentage. However, he led the DSL Pirates turning 19 double plays that season, which is still a career-high.

He would move to the states in 2018 and continued his tenure in Rookie Ball with the Gulf Coast League. However, the Pirates signed five none drafted free agents that season who were all infielders, blocking Acuna of playing time in the GCL. He only appeared in 36 games, mostly at second base and third base, and hit .230 with nine RBI in 113 at-bats. When he did hit the ball, he was a singles machine with 20 of his 26 hits going for single bases. He still wasn't striking out a whole lot, but his walks had also pretty much went away as he drew 10 walks all season. However, Acuna had one of the best defensive seasons on the GCL Pirates committing just three errors all season. With the log jam at shortstop, he saw most of his playing time as a second baseman, where he posted a .975 fielding percentage over 136 innings of play.

In order to grab him some more playing time, the Pirates decided to move Acuna up to the Appalachian League, where he would be the starting shortstop for the Bristol Pirates. This is where he started to discover his true potential with the bat. He hit a career-best .293 with a home run and 30 RBI while appearing in 53 games. He started to grow into his body and as a result, more power started to come. Almost half of his hits went for extra-bases that season and he ended up leading Bristol with 20 doubles and finishing third on the team with 53 hits. He began to use his speed again on the base paths and swiped nine of 14 bases with Bristol and producing a .363 on-base percentage. He played five different positions defensively for Bristol, but most of his time came as a shortstop where he had a .953 fielding percentage. However, his versatility was showing through as he added the outfield to his repertoire, which will help him as he climbs the ladder.

Protecting Acuna Moving Forward

At just 20-years-old, and with more development to go, interest for Acuna in the Minor League portion of the Rule 5 Draft could go one of two ways. Teams could either love the fact that he is so young and they can develop him into what they want or they could say he is too young yet to make that kind of investment. Either way, the Pirates have to be ready to accept the results of the draft should he stay or go. At 20-years-old, and with a system loaded with middle infield talent, I don't see the Pirates making a special spot on the 38-man Triple-A roster for Acuna. They will just have to hope that no team takes a shot on the young shortstop and that he can keep developing in the system.

As far as Acuna's projection for the 2021 season, it is likely that we will see him in Short-Season ball next year. He hit better than any option that the Black Bears currently have and would more than likely end up as their starting shortstop. If he continues to show success at the plate, don't be surprised if he moves up to Full season ball by year's end with a slight possibility that he could end up in Advanced-A. Being that there was no Minor League ball in 2020, it would seem that the Pirates and other teams would be more cautious of where they start their players after a year of no live games. For Acuna, he will have a leg up with the Columbia Winter League season and will look to gain momentum towards returning to the Minor Leagues in 2021.

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