If you think you’re having a bad weekend, pitching prospect Robert Ahlstrom is probably having a worse one.
The Yankees traded Ahlstrom and fellow prospect Albert Abreu to the Texas Rangers on Saturday for veteran catcher Jose Trevino. The move helped bolster the Yankees’ depth at catcher after they dealt Gary Sanchez to the Minnesota Twins last month as part of the Josh Donaldson trade.
Unfortunately for Ahlstrom, he appears to have found out about the trade through an Instagram comment. A fan left a comment on Ahlstrom’s most recent post from March and said, “Good luck in Texas @robert_ahlstrom21 gonna miss u.” Ahlstrom then replied saying “wait what?” When the fan said that Ahlstrom had been traded, Ahlstrom responded, “I did?”
You can see the post for yourself here. Based on the timing of when the trade was announced relative to the above screenshot, it seems entirely plausible that the exchange on Instagram is how Ahlstrom learned he had been dealt.
Ahlstrom, a 22-year-old lefty, was selected by the Yankees in the seventh round of last July’s draft (No. 213 overall). He went 9-3 with a 2.50 ERA for the University of Oregon last year and earned First Team All-Pac-12 honors.
Several MLB players, even certain stars, have found out they've been traded in odd ways. But Ahlstrom finding out from a random fan comment on Instagram definitely has to take the cake here.
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