Rangers acquire Jose Acosta from the Reds

The Texas Rangers have already had their busiest off-season in forever. That’s the way it seems in their quest to rebuild and naturally get younger in the process. The Rangers acquired Jose Acosta, 20, from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for outfielder Scott Heineman.

Jose Acosta | Ht: 5’10 | Wt: 170 Bats: S | Throws: R | Signed in 2017 as International UFA

In 2018, he hit a line of .199/.321/.284/.605 in 39 games while playing in the Dominican Summer League.

In 2019, he saw an increase of nearly .200 in his batting average. His line at the plate was fantastic! In his 43 games in the Dominican Summer League and 10 games in the Arizona Rookie League he hit .395/.481/.579/1.060. He hit three home runs, had 32 RBI, drew 31 walks and struck out 41 times between both leagues.

Redsminorleagues.com named Jose the Reds Minor-League hitter of the year in 2019.

Defensively

In 2018, Jose Acosta played 155 innings at 2nd base and just 3 innings at first base with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. At second base he had 6 errors which gave a .918 fielding percentage.

In 2019, in 103 innings at 2nd base he had a.972 fielding percentage. At the hot corner, he had a .842 fielding percentage in 309 innings.

Speed

One thing of interest is his speed, he stole 26 bases and got caught only 1 time in 2019.

I like this trade for the Rangers, as I have with all their trades so far this winter, especially the Nate Lowe trade. The Rangers get Jose Acosta, a young infielder who can hit and run. Good luck to Scott Heineman with the Reds organization.