Texas Rangers Add 3B Sherten Apostel From Kela Trade: Grade Update

The Texas Rangers announced 3B Sherten Apostel as the Player To Be Named Later in the trade that sent Keone Kela to the Pirates.

The Texas Rangers announced Saturday that they have acquired third baseman, Sherten Apostel, as the second player in the deadline day trade that sent closer Keone Kela to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The first player, named at the time of the trade, was lefty pitcher, Taylor Hearn, who has already made a number of starts for Double-A Frisco.

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Background

Apostel is a 19-year old out of Willemstad, Curacao, the same place as Jurickson Profar. A 6’4″ third baseman, Apostel was signed by the Pirates as an international free agent in July of 2015. After spending a couple of seasons with the Dominican Summer League Pirates affiliate, he was assigned to the Rookie-Level, Bristol Patriots. For the Patriots, Sherten played in 41 games with 35 of those appearances coming at third base. He hit .259 for Bristol posting a .406 on-base percentage due to 32 walks in 41 games. With 14 extra base hits, 7 doubles and 7 homeruns, Apostel had a .866 OPS for the Patriots in his time there.

Since being acquired by Texas, he was assigned to Low-A Spokane where he made his first appearance. As the DH for the Indians, Apostel went 2-2 with 2 singles to jumpstart his career with the Rangers organization.

Re-Grading the Trade

Not a highly rated prospect, Apostel represents the kind of upside the Rangers were looking for in a second player from the Kela deal. LHP Taylor Hearn, was the headline of this trade as the young starter was ranked 7th in the Pirates system by MLB Prospect Watch and has subsequently been ranked 7th in the Rangers system. Initially, we gave this trade a B- knowing that PTBNL would make his way to Texas at some point. After the announcement of Apostel, we can fully break down the return and what was given up.

Grade: B

This trade got a slight bump with the addition of Apostel because he represents what the Rangers are looking for in a prospect. A player with upside and room to develop, Texas gets a lottery ticket on the youngster while knowing they’ve added a high floor left handed pitcher with tons of upside. Considering how easily Jose Leclerc seems to be replacing Keone Kela makes this trade easier to swallow. Obviously it’ll be years before we know what kind of player Sherten Apostel is but until then, we can know that this was probably the best offer the Rangers could’ve gotten.