JP’s clip has more than 1,200 views and I’m sure I’m at least 750 of them. It’s easy to capture a batter or a pitcher looking good when you have a one-pitch sample. But man, that swing. The kinetic chain is in perfect display there as he transfers the energy from his legs up to his bat. If you want to see an example of what “easy power” looks like, this is it.

This clip set me off in trying to learn more about Apostel and little by little I uncovered more and more things I liked about him.

The Background

In 2015, Apostel signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates for $200,000 out of Curacao, the same island nation that’s produced Andruw Jones, Ozzie Albies, Andrelton Simmons and Jurickson Profar. It was a low profile signing as Apostel didn’t appear on any 2015 International Free Agent Rankings. In fact, if you search his name and set the parameters to the year 2015, Google returns only one page of results, none relevant to his signing.

He was reportedly considered as a pitcher thanks to his frame and his plus arm but the potential with the bat, in spite of his rough defense, was too good to turn down. As he slowly made his way through the rookie ball leagues, he improved and began showing a magnificent approach at the plate. In August of last year the Pirates named him the PTBNL in a trade that sent LHP Taylor Hearn to the Texas Rangers for Keone Kela.

The Numbers

In his debut season, a 48-game campaign in the DSL, a 17-year-old Apostel failed to impress. He pulled the ball a ton, mashed it into the ground and had just nine extra-base hits in 171 at-bats. Flip the calendar to 2017 and things started to click. Apostel, once again repeating the DSL, slashed .258/.422/.495 with a 56/49 BB/K. His 21.6 BB% that year led the DSL for all batters with a minimum of 200 plate appearances (206 players).

That same approach and similar slash line appeared this past season when Apostel began the year in the Appy League. He hit .259/.406/.460 in 41 games with an ISO above .200 again. His walk rate was superb, hovering at 18 percent. After the trade, the Rangers assigned him to short-season ball where he powered the Spokane Indians to the Northwest League championship before falling to Eugene. His numbers were stupid good, but it was just a 12-game stint so they’re not worth the digital ink.

The Changes

Box scores are nice, especially when they look as pretty as Apostel’s the last two seasons, but what else can we glean? Thanks to Minor Graphs, there are a couple of other trends we can pick up. First, it’s that the power is growing. This is Apostel’s calling card, and he’s learned to leverage his 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame in games, especially last year.