Texas Rangers: Sherten Apostel to start season in Double-A?

The Texas Rangers made a handful of minor league moves on Wednesday one of which saw Sherten Apostel optioned to Double-A Frisco.

On Wednesday the Texas Rangers announced a number of players had been optioned to minor league rosters or reassigned to minor league camp. Among those optioned were Demarcus Evans, Kolby Allard, Leody Taveras and Sherten Apostel. Evans and Allard were optioned to Triple-A Nashville, no surprise as they have been expected to start the season there all along. Taveras and Apostel however have been optioned to Double-A Frisco which for Taveras is no shock considering he spent the latter part of last season with the RoughRiders. For Apostel though, an option to Double-A could signal that the young slugger will be getting an aggressive placement to start the 2020 season.

Apostel has been one of the prospects many Texas Rangers fans had their eyes on this spring after he rocketed into the spotlight last season. His time in Spring Training to this point has been modest with just a .176 average in 11 games, but the talent is evident for the 21-year old. One question many have though regarding Apostel is how the Rangers will handle their third base shuffle at the minor league level with a number of the top prospects in the organization, including Apostel, Josh Jung and Davis Wendzel all looking like potential big league third basemen at some point in their careers. All three, among others though, are at relatively similar stages in the minors meaning Texas is having to piece together the best way to get them everyday opportunities.

Texas seemingly could be taking the big step to making sure their talented third base pool gets regular game time though optioning Apostel to Double-A Frisco. It must be noted that options in the middle of March are not ones that definitively set rosters to actually open the season. Texas can continue to shuffle players as needed. However, seeing Apostel in Frisco is a move would make sense despite it being an aggressive assignment for the youngster. Apostel finished off the 2019 season with the Rangers High-A affiliate, the Down East Wood Ducks, playing in 41 games. He showed some positive signs finishing his time with Down East hitting .237 with a .730 OPS. Still, having not played a half season above Single-A yet, a jump to the Opening Day roster in Double-A would be a notable jump. The club, Chris Woodward included, seem to be high on Apostel’s development though with Woodward even commenting that there was not a whole lot for Apostel to work on between now and a Major League debut.

He’s garnered attention this spring with his known ability to hit and an impressive ability with the glove despite his 6’4″ frame. His development has been exponential to this point rather than linear which has seen him rapidly gain status in the minor league system. If he does start the season with Frisco, it will be a nice addition to a talented roster and provide another reason for fans to show up to the Dr. Pepper Ballpark.