Rays complete six-player trade with Rangers

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired minor league catcher/outfielder Heriberto Hernandez (hair-ee-BAIR-toh), minor league infielder Osleivis Basabe (oh-SLAY-veece bah-SAH-bay) and minor league outfielder Alexander Ovalles (oh-VYE-ace) from the Texas Rangers in exchange for first baseman/third baseman Nate Lowe, minor league first baseman Jake Guenther and a player to be named. Following the trade, the Rays 40-man roster stands at 38 players.

Hernandez, 20, is currently ranked by FanGraphs as the No. 112 overall prospect in the minors and No. 3 prospect in the Rangers system. Over two minor league seasons, he is batting .320/.450/.635 (121-for-378) with 32 doubles, 23 home runs and 98 RBI in 113 games. He spent most of the 2019 season with the Rookie-level AZL Rangers, but played three games with Short-A Spokane following an August 31 promotion. Between the two levels, he hit .345/.436/.635 (69-for-200) with 17 doubles, 11 home runs and 49 RBI in 53 games. He was named to the Arizona League postseason All-Star Team, led the league with 48 RBI, 66 hits, 32 extra-base hits and 124 total bases and ranked among league leaders in avg. (.344, fifth), doubles (17, tied for second), home runs (11, tied for second), runs (42, fifth), on-base pct. (.433, fifth) and slugging pct. (.646, third). He was named to the Rangers Organizational All-Star Team by MLB.com and to the Rookie-level All-Star Team by Baseball America. He was signed by the Rangers on December 13, 2017 out of the Dominican Republic.

Basabe, 20, is currently ranked as the No. 16 prospect in the Rangers system by FanGraphs and the No. 20 prospect in the Rangers system by MLB.com. Over two minor league seasons, he is batting .334/.386/.439 (118-for-353) with 18 doubles, one home run, 66 RBI and 19 stolen bases in 89 games. He spent most of the 2019 season with the Rookie-level AZL Rangers, but played two games with Short-A Spokane following an August 31 promotion. Between the two levels, he hit .323/.352/.398 (52-for-161) with 32 RBI in 37 games. He was signed by the Rangers on December 23, 2017 out of Venezuela.

Ovalles, 20, is batting .299/.376/.456 (84-for-281) with 18 doubles, four home runs and 41 RBI in 70 games over two minor league seasons and two organizations. He split the 2019 season between the Rookie-level AZL Rangers and Short-A Spokane, earning a July 27 promotion, and hit .293/.354/.488 (60-for-226) with 14 doubles, four home runs and 33 RBI in 49 games. He was acquired by the Rangers on August 14, 2018 as a player to be named in the trade sending left-handed pitcher Cole Hamels to the Chicago Cubs. He was signed by the Cubs on July 27, 2017 out of the Dominican Republic.

Lowe, 25, hit .251/.322/.447 (55-for-219) with 11 home runs and 30 RBI in 71 games (55 starts) over two seasons with the Rays. In 2020, he was recalled from the alternate training site on September 1 and remained with the Rays through season’s end. He hit .224/.316/.433 (15-for-67) in 21 games (19 starts), with all four home runs and 11 RBI coming over a stretch of 11 games (all starts) from September 11-21. He started Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Toronto Blue Jays at first base but was not on the Rays postseason roster for the Division Series, League Championship Series or World Series. He was selected by the Rays in the 13th round of the 2016 June Draft out of Mississippi State University. His younger brother, Josh, was added to the Rays 40-man roster on November 20.

Guenther, 23, was selected by the Rays in the seventh round of the 2019 June Draft out of Texas Christian University. He played for Rookie-level Princeton in 2019, batting .320/.431/.423 (56-for-175) with 10 doubles, two home runs and 30 RBI in 48 games. As a redshirt junior at TCU, his .345 avg. ranked third in the conference and his .462 OBP ranked fourth.