ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — Luisangel Acuña heard from his star brother almost every day during his rise through the minor leagues.
Keep working hard. You looked good tonight. Stay disciplined.
The kernels of advice and encouragement have helped Acuña push through a career that started in 2019 with the Texas Rangers, where he reached Double-A and was a Fall League All-Star in 2022, then jumped into overdrive. From the moment he signed, expectations had come from that last name, which only mounted when the Rangers traded Acuña to the New York Mets last summer for Max Scherzer. But having Ronald Acuña Jr., an NL MVP and four-time All-Star by age 25, as an older brother became fuel.
“That’s pride, inspiration,” Luisangel said recently. “It feeds my desire to work. He’s at the peak. I think that’s the best thing a baseball player in the minor leagues can have, a brother in the major leagues and one who is a superstar. That’s motivation.”
The brotherly advice instilled Luisangel Acuña with confidence he needed after he unexpectedly joined the Mets two weeks ago in the middle of a heated playoff race. The younger Acuña has flourished as the injured Francisco Lindor‘s replacement at shortstop: He’s batting .379 with three home runs and a 1.228 OPS in nine major league games while impressing his peers with his demeanor in the high-stakes contests.
“He’s just calm, poised,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s just like he belongs in the big leagues.”
Acuña has helped the Mets remain two games ahead of his brother’s Atlanta Braves for the final NL wild-card spot, and for the next three nights, the brothers will be in opposite dugouts at Truist Park for a series that could decide their clubs’ postseason fates. Ronald, out for the season with a torn ACL, traveled to Atlanta to watch his little brother play at the major league level for the first time.
If all had gone according to plan for the Mets, Acuña would not be on the trip.
The plan wasn’t for him to make his major league debut two Saturdays ago during a pivotal road series against the first-place Philadelphia Phillies. The 5-foot-8 Acuña was expected to spend the season with Triple-A Syracuse, where he was batting .258 with seven home runs and a .654 OPS. Still just 22, he was not beating down the door to join a veteran playoff-caliber club, and that was OK.
But as magical as the Mets’ in-season turnaround has been, a reversal that launched the club from 11 games under .500 to 18 games over in less than four months, they have not been immune to injuries. Two in the past month left them short in the middle infield. First, second baseman Jeff McNeil was lost for the remainder of the season with a broken left wrist. Less than a week later, a much bigger blow: Lindor left a game on Sept. 13 with a lower back injury.
Acuña received the call that night, and the next afternoon, he was in the Mets’ lineup in Philadelphia, batting ninth and playing shortstop. He went 2-for-4, recording his first career hit in his second plate appearance. The Mets lost that day and the next before going 6-1 during a crucial homestand, culminating with a series win against the Phillies.
Acuña started six of those games at Citi Field. He recorded hits in five of them. In his first home game, he bounced back from an early run-costing error with three hits, including an RBI double and his first career home run, in a 10-1 rout of the Washington Nationals. He homered again the next night and off All-Star Ranger Suárez on Saturday in a 6-3 win over the Phillies with “Hakuna Matata” — a play on his last name — as his walk-up song.
“That’s sort of the major league start anyone would dream of, right?” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said last Friday.
In the Mets’ dream scenario, Lindor is back at shortstop Tuesday and Acuña, who has extensive professional experience at second base and in center field, is moved around the diamond. But that appears unlikely.
On Sunday, Lindor indicated he might not return to play in the regular season, which means he might not return at all if the Mets miss out on the postseason. Lindor, who was considered Shohei Ohtani‘s strongest challenger for NL MVP before the injury, said he expects to play in pain if he does return.
Lindor suffered the injury Sept. 13 in Philadelphia, which forced him to exit the game in the seventh inning. He has since played just one inning. The Mets are 6-3 during that stretch.
“I’m super happy,” Lindor said of the team’s play without him. “I knew that they could do it. I’ve believed in the team since Day One. I believe in what Stearns, Mendy, and the whole front office did from Day One. We have a really good team.”
Acuña has been part of it for less than two weeks, producing at a level unexpected after his struggles in Triple A. Acuña said regularly playing in cold weather for the first time was a factor in his struggles earlier in the year. He credited Syracuse bench coach JP Arencibia for suggesting a mechanical adjustment at the plate in late April — raising his hands instead of having them low like his brother — that produced better contact and improved his ability to hit the ball in the air with power. But plate discipline remained a flaw — he compiled just 32 walks in 587 plate appearances in Syracuse, good for a career-low 5.5% walk rate — and the results remained underwhelming.
“I think it’s always tough to predict that someone is going to perform even better at the major league level than they performed at the minor level,” Stearns said. “I think what we had confidence in was the pulse and that the moment wasn’t going to be too big for him. He’s not going to get nervous. He’s excited to be here, and he believes he can perform in this environment. And, clearly, he has.”
This week, Acuña will play the most important games of his career with a familiar face across the way. At some point, the brothers from Venezuela plan on swapping jerseys. It’ll make for a memorable moment. Between the lines, little brother, equipped with his brother’s wisdom, will look to create a few more.
“He always told me it’s the same game,” Acuña said. “Just do what I know.”
A civil lawsuit accusing BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff of rape has been dismissed, according to court records.
The parties jointly agreed to dismiss with prejudice, ending the case which was filed last month. None of the parties was immediately available for comment.
Retzlaff now plans to transfer from BYU as he faces a possible seven-game suspension for violating the school’s honor code by admitting to premarital sex during the legal proceedings, sources told ESPN. He has begun informing staff and teammates of his intention to leave, sources said.
Retzlaff had been working out with the squad and participating in summer workouts and practices. The team is on break until July 7.
The BYU staff has been ramping up the preparation of the three backup quarterbacks — McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourguet and Bear Bachmeier — in anticipation that Retzlaff might not be available.
The woman alleged Retzlaff raped, strangled and bit her in November 2023. In a response to that lawsuit filed Friday, a lawyer representing Retzlaff denied those allegations but said Retzlaff had consensual sex with the woman.
The response indicated Retzlaff and the woman traded lighthearted text messages for months after the encounter and characterized the lawsuit as an extortion attempt based on the idea that Retzlaff developed into an NFL prospect roughly a year later.
The lawsuit described the encounter much differently.
Both the complaint and the response agree that Retzlaff and the woman connected through social media, which led to her visiting Retzlaff’s apartment to play video games on or around Nov. 22, 2023. The woman arrived with a friend, and friends and teammates of Retzlaff also were present.
Later that evening, the woman’s friend left, after which Retzlaff and the woman started watching a movie and began to kiss, the lawsuit states. While “Retzlaff began escalating the situation,” the suit says, “Jane Doe A.G. tried to de-escalate the situation and attempted to slow things down, trying to pull away, and saying ‘wait.’ She did not want to do anything sexual with him.”
The lawsuit says the woman told Retzlaff “no” and “wait, stop,” but he continued to force himself on her. After she tried to get up out of the bed, the lawsuit alleges, in graphic detail, that Retzlaff put his hands around her neck and proceeded to rape her.
A few days later, the woman visited a hospital, where a rape kit was performed and pictures of her injuries were taken. The lawsuit says she was connected with Provo, Utah, police but did not initially share Retzlaff’s name.
No criminal charges have been filed against Retzlaff.
After the lawsuit was filed, BYU issued a statement, saying: “The university takes any allegation very seriously, following all processes and guidelines mandated by Title IX. Due to federal and university privacy laws and practices for students, the university will not be able to provide additional comment.”
Retzlaff is not the first high-profile BYU athlete who faced a lengthy suspension for an honor code violation related to premarital sex. In 2011, basketball player Brandon Davies was dismissed from the team — which at the time was 27-2 and ranked No. 3 in the country — and suspended from school. He was reinstated that fall. In 1999, running back Reno Mahe was suspended from school and forced to leave the football team. He transferred to a junior college and later reenrolled at BYU.
Retzlaff, who has graduated from BYU, is expected to enter his name in the transfer portal in the coming days. He started 13 games for the Cougars in 2024, his first year as the starter, leading the team to an 11-2 record. He passed for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.
Texas State has officially joined the Pac-12, the conference announced Monday, becoming the league’s ninth member ahead of its relaunch in 2026.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Texas State as a foundational member of the new Pac-12,” commissioner Teresa Gould said in a statement. “It is a new day in college sports and the most opportune time to launch a new league that is positioned to succeed in today’s landscape with student-athletes in mind.”
Texas State’s board of regents voted to authorize a $5 million buyout to the Sun Belt Conference early Monday. The Bobcats will remain in the Sun Belt through the 2025-26 season before joining the Pac-12 in all sports for the 2026-27 school year.
The Pac-12 needed to reach eight football-playing schools to meet the NCAA minimum for an FBS conference prior to the 2026 season.
Texas State president Kelly Damphousse called the move “a historic moment” for the university.
“Joining the Pac-12 is more than an athletic move — it is a declaration of our rising national profile, our commitment to excellence, and our readiness to compete and collaborate with some of the most respected institutions in the country,” Damphousse said.
Athletic director Don Coryell echoed that sentiment, calling the opportunity “a new era” for Texas State, which has been in the Sun Belt since 2013 after making its FBS debut with one season in the WAC in 2012.
“This historic moment belongs to our coaches, staff, student-athletes, fans, alumni and students,” Coryell said. “As the Pac-12’s flagship school in Texas, we proudly embrace the opportunity and responsibility that comes with it.”
The long-awaited announcement comes on the heels of the Pac-12’s announcement last week that it had finalized a five-year agreement with CBS for a portion of the conference’s football and men’s basketball media rights, including both sports’ championship game. Additional media partners are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Texas State is located in San Marcos, which is only about 35 miles south of the University of Texas in Austin. Texas State has more than 40,000 students, with one of the 25 largest undergraduate enrollments among public universities in the U.S.
Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.
Alabama’s 2026 recruiting class landed another significant late-June recruiting boost Saturday when four-star defender Xavier Griffin, ESPN’s No. 3 outside linebacker, announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide over Florida State, Ohio State and Texas.
Griffin, a versatile, 6-foot-4, 205-pound prospect from Gainesville, Georgia, is the No. 30 overall recruit in the 2026 ESPN 300. A former longtime USC commit, Griffin took official visits with each of his finalists in June. He now stands as the top-ranked prospect among 14 commits in Alabama’s incoming class, joining days after the program secured top 300 pledges from running back Ezavier Crowell (No. 31 overall) and tight end Mack Sutter (No. 138) on Thursday night.
Griffin told ESPN that the Crimson Tide’s pedigree and vision laid out by Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer and outside linebackers coach Christian Robinson were driving factors in his decision.
“Growing up, just seeing them, all the draft picks and stuff that they’ve had — all the guys they’ve put in the league — it speaks for itself,” Griffin said. “They have history and they’re really clear about what they’re trying to build with this new staff.”
A physical defender capable of dropping into coverage, Griffin has cemented his status as one the nation’s top linebackers at Gainesville (Georgia) High School, where he’s recorded 97 total tackles and 21 sacks across his sophomore and junior seasons.
He initially committed to USC last July and remained one of the Trojans’ top prospects over next 10 months before Griffin pulled his pledge from the program on May 14. Sources told ESPN at the time that Griffin’s decommitment stemmed from his intention to schedule official visits with programs this spring, bucking against USC’s policy against committed players taking official trips to other campuses.
Upon reopening his recruitment, Griffin locked in official visits with Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and Texas for this month, closing with a trip to the Crimson Tide from June 20-22. Despite his lengthy USC pledge, Griffin told ESPN that no program recruited him more actively than Alabama across the past two years, led by Robinson, the program’s second-year assistant.
“He’s been one of the most consistent with me throughout my whole process,” Griffin said. “He’s just a really, really good guy.”
The highest-ranked of seven ESPN 300 pledges bound for Alabama in 2026, Griffin now leads an increasingly talented Crimson Tide defensive class forming in the current cycle.
Alongside Griffin, Alabama holds commitments from top-10 cornerbacks Jorden Edmonds (No. 38 overall) and Zyan Gibson (No. 65) in 2026. Defensive end Jamarion Matthews, Griffin’s teammate at Gainesville High School and ESPN’s No. 92 overall recruit, has been pledged to the Crimson Tide since February, and Alabama’s latest defensive class could get even deeper over the next month as priority targets including top-60 prospects Jireh Edwards, Anthony Jones and Nolan Wilson approach the final stages of their recruiting processes.