Washington Nationals acquire 2B Chris Bostick and RHP Abel de Los Santos from the Texas Rangers
The Washington Nationals acquired second baseman Chris Bostick and right-handed reliever Abel de Los Santos from the Texas Rangers on Friday in exchange for left-handed pitcher Ross Detwiler. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.
Bostick, 21, has a .270 career batting average and a .341 on-base percentage in four Minor League seasons ranging from Rookie Level to high Class-A. In 2014, with Single-A Myrtle Beach of the Carolina League, Bostick hit .251 with a .322 on-base percentage and a .412 slugging percentage. While he played 122 of his 130 games at second base in 2014, Bostick has played 18 Minor League games at shortstop in his career.
Bostick ranked among Carolina League hitters in runs scored (second, 81), hits (T-sixth, 124), doubles, (T-fifth, 31), triples (T-fifth, 8), stolen bases (ninth, 24), and RBI (T-ninth, 62).
A 44th-round selection in the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of high school, Bostick was originally drafted by the Oakland Athletics. He was acquired by the Rangers, along with Michael Choice, on Dec. 3, 2013, in exchange for Craig Gentry and Josh Lindblom.
de Los Santos, 22, was a teammate of Bostick's in Myrtle Beach for much of the 2014 season. Though he made eight appearances to begin the year in Single-A Hickory of the South Atlantic League, de Los Santos made 33 appearances for Single-A Myrtle Beach, where he was 5-2 with a 1.97 ERA. On the season, the 6-foot-2 right-hander pitched to a 1.92 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 56.1 innings pitched (41 games).
Signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Rangers in 2010, de Los Santos worked to a 0.959 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) and struck out 10.4 batters per nine innings in 2014. He allowed just two home runs all year and his eight saves were good for second on the Myrtle Beach club.
Against left-handed hitters in 2014, de Los Santos surrendered just 14 hits while striking out 35 of the 85 lefty batters he faced.
Detwiler, 28, joins the Rangers after eight years in the Nationals' organization. The No. 6 overall selection in the 2007 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Detwiler was 20-32 with a 3.82 ERA over the course of six Major League seasons. In his lone playoff appearance with the Nationals, Detwiler spun six innings of one-run ball over the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012.
A starter for the majority of the first five years of his Major League career, Detwiler was shifted to a bullpen role in 2014. The 6-foot-5 left-hander had a 4.00 ERA in 2014, going 2-3 in 63.0 innings of work.