Article: Eddie Rosario Promoted To Twins; Arcia Placed On DL

[John Bonnes]

UPDATE: It's now official. The Twins have called up Eddie Rosario and placed Oswaldo Arcia on the 15-day disabled list.

 

Twins left-handed hitting outfielder Eddie Rosario retweeted a message today congratulating him on his promotion to the Minnesota Twins. While no announcement has been made, it seems likely that Rosario would be called up to replace corner outfielder Oswaldo Arcia, who needed to leave yesterday’s game with a right hip irritation.The move would be somewhat surprising as Rosario has had a slow start in AAA Rochester, especially in relation to outfielder Aaron Hicks, who is hitting .289 with a 869 OPS. It's possible that the Twins want to replace Arcia’s left-handed bat in the lineup and while Hicks is a switch-hitter, he has suffered from the left side of the plate. However, the Twins have not commented on the decision, or even acknowledged it.

 

Rosario has had a roller coaster ride in the minors over the last two years. In 2013, he finished a tremendous year between High A and Double-A as a 21-year-old, firmly establishing himself as one of the top 100 prospects in the minor leagues. However, that offseason it was revealed that he would serve a 50-game suspension for taking a drug of abuse, later revealed to be marijuana.

 

The suspension meant he started 2014 late and his second go-around in AA went far worse (.237/.277/.396) than it had the year before (.284/.330/.412). However, he recovered somewhat with an outstanding showing in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .330 with a 755 OPS.

 

Rosario continued to recover his prospect status in spring training, making a bid to go north with the Twins as their everyday center fielder. Ultimately, that job was handed to a platoon of Shane Robinson and Jordan Schafer, with Rosario being sent to AAA-Rochester. Rosario has split time in center field and right field with Hicks so far this year.

 

In Rochester, Rosario was hitting .242/.280/.379 with three home runs. He also had 17 strikeouts versus just five walks. However, he hasn’t struck out since back on April 25^th, having drawn two walks since then, demonstrating that an adjustment has possibly been made.

 

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[nytwinsfan]

As much as some will see this as diss/message to Aaron Hicks, I think it is mostly a result of Molitor needing a leftie outfield bat and not trusting Hicks from that side of the plate.

 

That being said:

 

Hicks (2015) LH v. RH: .286 .349 .464 (.813)

Rosario (2015) LH v. RH: .217 .266 .367 (.632)

[Gene Larkin Fan Club]

Just the first of (hopefully) many!  Let the games begin!

[zchrz]

I like it.  Rosario gets his first taste of the majors and it isn't a big deal if he gets sent back down later (like Polanco last year) and Hicks gets to continue to build on his success, he has been bounced around enough let him get a good half season in.

 

Arcia sure gets hurt a lot for as bulky and solid a person he is, and right when he was starting to hit as well.

[Shane Wahl]

And it is a true 15 day kind of replacement with Rosario headed back down afterwards. When Hicks comes up, it will be for good (or bad--then he will be gone).

 

I will say that I don't know if this is really a good thing for Rosario at the moment. If he struggles on top of his lackluster time in AAA and AA the past 100 or whatever games, then I could see the rest of 2015 being a problem for him.

 

I wish they had Danny Ortiz on the 40-man so he could take this spot instead.

[John Bonnes]

Boy, I wish I could get to the game early to watch batting practice. Good luck Eddie! We'll see you at Target Field!

[Nick Nelson]

Rosario made a good impression in spring training and evidently that was enough to place him first in line for a promotion. I expect he'll struggle quite a bit as MLB pitchers take advantage of his free-swinging ways.

[John Bonnes]

 

And it is a true 15 day kind of replacement with Rosario headed back down afterwards. When Hicks comes up, it will be for good (or bad--then he will be gone).

 

I'm not so sure. If he hits well, I can see him taking over in CF when Arcia returns. 

[John Bonnes]

 

As much as some will see this as diss/message to Aaron Hicks, I think it is mostly a result of Molitor needing a leftie outfield bat and not trusting Hicks from that side of the plate.

 

That being said:

 

Hicks (2015) LH v. RH: .286 .349 .464 (.813)

Rosario (2015) LH v. RH: .217 .266 .367 (.632)

 

I took a look at some of Rosario's split from previous years, too. He hasn't really excelled against right-handers. He's hit them both about the same last year.  

[sdtwins37]

I agree nytwinsfan, but man Hicks has got to be ticked off. Hopefully at himself.

[Mike Sixel]

Wow. Congrats to him. And, Mr. Hicks, we are still hoping you'll force your way up soon.

[drivlikejehu]

I don't get it. The better move would have been to call up Hicks, first to fill in for Arcia, and then to take over CF. 

[h2oface]

Wow. Sounds like they should just trade Hicks, now. Rosario over Hicks at this point really surprises me. Any promotion of the new wave I have to support, but they must not like Hicks at all. Seems personal at this point. Rosario's OBP is not very encouraging, and I am not looking forward to that in the lineup right now.

 

Hip irritation for Arcia? I haven't seen any real reports on what is wrong with him. I guess still not.

Edited May 4, 2015 by h2oface

[Shane Wahl]

 

I'm not so sure. If he hits well, I can see him taking over in CF when Arcia returns. 

 

After a pretty thoroughly sub-par half season at AA last year and a sub-par month at AAA? I actually don't hope, for his sake, that he hits well in 12+ games and then the Twins keep him up. Have we learned nothing from the Aaron Hicks experience?

[Linus]

I agree with letting Hicks stay on a roll.  I think it is critical for him to keep it going in Rochester and really develop as much confidence as he can.  At that point he comes up and doesn't go back.

 

Who knows, maybe our outfield will be Rosario, Hicks and Hunter by mid - June.

[Mike Sixel]

Or, they really want Hicks to succeed next time he comes up, and they want him to keep working on something. I rip the FO all the time, but I think we should not jump to conclusions about Hicks with this move. There may be a ton of reasons they want to try this, like, I don't know, giving Rosario a taste of the majors to see how HE responds. 

[John Kelsey]

I don't really agree with the decision but that doesn't change the fact that I'm excited to see what Rosario can do. 

[JB_Iowa]

I have long been rooting for Aaron Hicks.  This move makes sense to me if the Twins committed to a plan for Hicks before the season started and are sticking to it. 

 

Hicks has done well at AAA but perhaps they wanted him to get "X" number of AB's and he isn't near "X" yet.  Even before this, people on these forums were not in agreement about the appropriate time to call him up.

 

After the way he has been handled the last couple of years, maybe management is just being conservative and giving him the greatest opportunity to succeed in AAA and then later in the majors.

 

We'll see how he responds.

[Secondary User]

Danny Santana:

2014 AAA: .268/.311/.381

Called up after 24 games

 

Eddie Rosario

2014 AAA: .242/.280/.379

Called up after 23 games

[stringer bell]

This is the decision I wanted, but I didn't think would come.  I think Rosario will be pretty good hitting toward the bottom of the order.  He will be an improvement in the field over anyone but Shane Robinson.  If he hits, he moves to center when Arcia returns (I think).  

[bulldozier14]

As Eddie's adopter:

 

Congrats Eddie!

 

Excited to see how he performs in The Show. This guy has shown incredible flashes of talent, even if he wasn't tearing it up in AAA. I'm sure he is on top of the world. Hopefully he shows he belongs, but if he doesn't he's only 23 and it certainly would not hurt his potential. 

[bulldozier14]

 

I agree with letting Hicks stay on a roll.  I think it is critical for him to keep it going in Rochester and really develop as much confidence as he can.  At that point he comes up and doesn't go back.

 

Who knows, maybe our outfield will be Rosario, Hicks and Hunter by mid - June.

After how wretched our outfield defense has been, how awesome would it be to have a (likely) above-average outfield defense in Hicks, Bucky and Rosario by the end of the season. 

[bulldozier14]

 

Rosario made a good impression in spring training and evidently that was enough to place him first in line for a promotion. I expect he'll struggle quite a bit as MLB pitchers take advantage of his free-swinging ways.

Yeah he is probably going to need to show more patience to be a good hitting corner outfielder in the bigs, or pitchers will exploit him. 

[Dantes929]

We recently faced a team with a lot of lefties.   That would have made more sense for HIcks to come up.  I know his splits are better from the left side than what they were but I would still like him to come up facing lefties to start with and get his confidence up a bit.    Personally, I would have liked a platoon of sorts among Robsinson, Rosario and Hicks. and send Schaefer or Nunez down. 

[spsdrock]

I am pumped to see him come up!  Hope does well!  I will be at the game tonight hope he plays.  Cant pass up the Phil Hughes star wars bobblehead. 

[HitInAPinch]

 

Rosario made a good impression in spring training and evidently that was enough to place him first in line for a promotion. I expect he'll struggle quite a bit as MLB pitchers take advantage of his free-swinging ways.

 

Agreed, and it was Molitor that he really impressed.  And, also remember what Molitor said about Hicks after he was cut from the MLB camp:

 

“I told him I appreciated his work down here and his desire to try to improve various aspects of his game,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “I think the bottom line was he didn’t perform particularly well.”

 

“You take full consideration of how the spring goes,” Molitor said. “When you look at the body of work, you have to consider all things that happened down here and that was part of that. He understands he needs to be engaged in the game. He’s a guy who if he defends well and has good at-bats and stays aggressive on the basepaths, he can be helpful up here — and not make mental mistakes.”

 

I also don't discredit the concept that this was both a message AND the continuation of a plan for Hicks.  Seems to be the kinda thing Molitor does....

[Brock Beauchamp]

In my opinion, the Twins didn't have a good option here but because Arcia is only going on the 15 day DL, giving Rosario a taste of MLB pitching isn't the worst thing in the world.

 

If I was managing the Twins front office, I would do everything in my power to avoid "tainting" Hicks' recent success by letting something get into his head again. Let him succeed for an extended period of time before calling him up. The guy hasn't seen real success anywhere since 2012.

[gunnarthor]

Hopefully, Eddie plays well. 

 

From a million miles away, Rosario seems more confident than Hicks does so maybe he can deal with the failures at the ML better.  If so, maybe he won't struggle as much with going 0-4.

[drivlikejehu]

Rosario has never had success above A-ball. He's 23, so it's not like he's especially young for a prospect, either. His reputation far exceeds his results... I understand that it's for two weeks, but I thought the Twins were trying to win? He doesn't give them the best chance to do so.

[Vanimal46]

Welcome to the big leagues Eddie Rosario! It may just be a 2 week trial, but give them a reason to keep you up here for good.