The Rangers seem to have a top prospect in Sherten Apostel. What exactly do they have?
- Born: March 11, 1999
- B/T: Right/Right
- 6’4″, 235-lbs
- Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015 out of Curacao.
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
I’ll say this for Apostel, he hits the ball hard. Very hard. Very, very hard. A 35% Hard% is one of the top rates you will see.
When you hit the ball hard, pitchers respect you, and you draw gobs of walks. He swings hard, and he strikes out a lot. Not too much, but it’s not ideal.
He gets on base, and he has power. No speed.
He hit a bit better against lefties, but he got on base against all pitchers in the end. He definitely slugs better against lefties.
All fields power, no doubt about that.
2017 was against foreign rookie pitchers, so I ignore that. I mean, it’s better he went uphill rather than downhill, but that’s all we can draw from that.
In 2018 he was traded to the Rangers organization, and we see a narrower range of results.
In 2019 he started at A-ball, and it was an adjustment, but to his credit he righted the ship and started excelling. Then in High-A he again adjusted, but more quickly brought his game back.
And note that through all the ups and downs, the average OPS is around 0.800. Very, very good.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #119 on their Top 400.
- BaseballHQ: #91 on their Top 100.
- Fangraphs: Not on their Top 120.
- Fantasy Six Pack: #449 on their dynasty list.
- Prospects365: #93 on Ray Butler’s Top 200.
- Imaginary Brick Wall: #117 on the Top 487.
- Fantrax: #98 on the Top 250.
Warnings
It would be nice if he didn’t strike out quite as much, though it’s not a deal-breaker.
We should see him handle Double-A ball first before we buy in too much.
His defense at 3B is not great, and his body size means he will be slow, so 1B is a likely destination in the majors.
Conclusion
He’s on the 60-man roster, so he’s playing in alternate camp for now. He already drew deadline trade interest when he came to the Rangers, and it could happen again. That power is real.