The Mariners have acquired outfielder Andrew Aplin from the Astros, per a club announcement. Cash or a player to be named later will head to Houston in return. To create room on the 40-man roster, Seattle has designated righty Chris Heston for assignment.
[RELATED: Updated Mariners Depth Chart]
Aplin, 26, had just been designated for assignment when the ’Stros had a need for a 40-man spot. He’ll now head to the division-rival Mariners, who carry a variety of young outfielders on their 40-man roster — a situation with plenty of competition but also a good bit of opportunity.
Seattle is surely intrigued by Aplin’s ability to manage the strike zone, make contact, and get on base. He owns a .375 OBP through thirty games at Triple-A this year. But Aplin has also failed to show much else with the bat at the highest level of the minors, with a composite .245/.341/.329 batting line through 953 total plate appearances over four seasons. He did manage nine home runs in 598 plate appearances at the High-A level back in 2013, however. And Aplin is regarded as a quality defender who can play anywhere in the outfield; Baseball America credits him with a high-quality arm while noting that “his range and defense play up thanks to good routes and reads.”
The 29-year-old Heston, who’s best known for his 2015 no-hitter, has struggled badly in his limited major league opportunities over the past two seasons. Most recently, he was bombed in a spot start on Sunday. Still, Heston had managed a 3.41 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 over 31 2/3 innings this year at Triple-A Tacoma.
So does that mean Overton is starting again? I’m starting to get bored of getting blown out in every game.
An OF’er? Seriously? That’s the last position of need right now, unless of course he is acquired to be used in a future trade ala Mallex Smith deal
It could be that we are stock piling players that can fill in if they decide to be sellers at the deadline which i defining am not opposed to. And I definitely agree that Moore should be brought up instead of starting 3 guys that throw BP every game.
Just because our pitching staff has been decimated does not mean that we need to sell off he talent that’s been acquired. If you’re a ball player with an opportunity to come up and spot start or fill in somewhere than make the most of it. Some of these pitchers are a joke, but not without talent. I get it this season could be a wash, but there have been teams worse off that have finished better. I’m not calling this one yet.
No kidding. I think he must be going thru withdrawals since he hasn’t made a deal in a while.
I’d really like to see Andrew Moore up at the big league level. Doubt he’ll be brought up to face WA, BOS or COL. Maybe next home-stand
24thekid- last nights score would have been very different if Cruz makes that catch in RF at 2 outs in the 4th. And I’m sure that heavy rain in the 4th inning affected Bergy’s pitching. Erggh! Pax back yet?
Dangerous conditions last night and the game should have been delayed as early as the 3rd inning. Couldn’t agree more about Bergman’s pitching, dude was nowhere near finishing his pitches or planting his foot.
So I guess Chris Heston will remain on the board with Bud Smith and Philip Humber as weirdest pitchers in history to throw a no hitter.
But the best was Bobo Holloman for the St. Louis Browns
He can join the Mets the team he threw the no hitter against
Not mentioned in the article is that Aplin is a very good defensive OF.
Meant to look that up and add it. Will do so now.
Jerry Dipoto being Jerry Dipoto…. making moves to make moves… How many SPs has he traded for, churned thru, and then moved off the roster? But hey, when you get a chance to pick up a generational talent like Alpin no amount of 10 run blowouts should make you reconsider getting rid of pitching.