Sanchez: Rosario Looking for a big 2017

[Seth Stohs]

We've heard it before, but it's always fun to read from a national perspective.

 

Eddie Rosario is playing for Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series (as is Dereck Rodriguez)... Jesse Sanchez from MLB.com caught up with him and Thad Levine. There are some great quotes in the article including:

 

 

"Eddie is one of those hitters that is so talented that he truly believes he can hit anything a pitcher throws. He's actually right, and he has great eye-hand coordination, but the downside is that he ends up swinging at a lot of pitches that are less attractive to hit, and some that are out of the zone," Levine said. "The good pitchers in the game are going to exploit that. He did a good job of cutting down on that toward the end of the season, but it's going to be something he is going to continue to work on to put himself in the best position to excel on the Major League level."

 

 

Check out the article...

 

http://m.twins.mlb.com/news/article/215143306/twins-eddie-rosario-gearing-up-for-2017-season/

[Bark's Lounge]

Rosario is probably my favorite player on the club.

 

If he gets good coaching (hitting wise), listens, and works at it - he can be an all-star type player.

 

I like his defense (no matter if metrics are down on him) and he is a very good athlete.

 

He needs to be more patient and draw a few more BB's. I also think if he realizes his potential, he is a 20-25HR per season player.

 

There is just something about this guy that I think is dynamic. I really believe he can be a very good-great baseball player at the MLB level. IMO.

[Thrylos]

 

We've heard it before, but it's always fun to read from a national perspective.

 

Eddie Rosario is playing for Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series (as is Dereck Rodriguez)... Jesse Sanchez from MLB.com caught up with him and Thad Levine. There are some great quotes in the article including:

 

 

 

Check out the article...

 

Link?

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Rosario is probably my favorite player on the club.

 

If he gets good coaching (hitting wise), listens, and works at it - he can be an all-star type player.

 

I like his defense (no matter if metrics are down on him) and he is a very good athlete.

 

He needs to be more patient and draw a few more BB's. I also think if he realizes his potential, he is a 20-25HR per season player.

 

There is just something about this guy that I think is dynamic. I really believe he can be a very good-great baseball player at the MLB level. IMO.

if Rosario can figure out the patience part, he could be scary. His whole issue is letting pitchers throw junk in the general plate area.

[Linus]

I like Rosario and think he might have value as a CF even if his hitting doesn't improve much.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Levine's quote pretty much sums it up. Rosario is an above average defender at the corners and can play acceptable defense in CF. If he can cut down on swinging at bad pitches, he's a really good player. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Levine's quote pretty much sums it up. Rosario is an above average defender at the corners and can play acceptable defense in CF. If he can cut down on swinging at bad pitches, he's a really good player. 

Yeah, I actually care less about Rosario's walk rate than I do his swing rate. It's likely he'll never be more than a 6% BB guy and that's okay, provided he makes contact when he swings and drops that K rate under 20%.

 

Basically, Rosario's ceiling is probably Puckett-Lite and that's a pretty good player. The type of guy you don't mind hanging around through his arb seasons until he loses a step and/or becomes expensive.

 

But he needs to stop swinging at everything or he's, at best, a fourth outfielder.

[drivlikejehu]

I think Rosario's problems are less with his approach and more with his inability to read pitch type and location quickly enough. Last year he swung and missed at a significantly higher rate than Sano. Unfortunately I see him flaming out.

[DocBauer]

I really like Rosario and am probably higher on him than a lot of us here at TD. He still has some (some would say a lot) to prove at the ML level, but he's got real skills and shouldn't be dismissed so easily. He still has something like only 780 ML AB. We have seen at all levels that he CAN hit, provide power and speed and he also plays quality defense. Like most any young player, he is still growing and learning. He performed much better once he came back from Rochester last season, and it's a real shame his season ended early.

 

I think two things hold him back, other than inexperience. 1] I think things have come naturally for him in the past that he's only learning now about the extra work he needs. 2] I think he wants to be so good that he tries too hard. (I think this could be a Berrios issue as well)

 

He will never have the discipline to hit regularly at the top of the order, which is too bad. But he has the power and speed to be an exciting and dangerous lower in the order bat. Here is to hoping he stays injury free in 2017 and gets a full season in to develop and show what he is capable of.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Yeah, I actually care less about Rosario's walk rate than I do his swing rate. It's likely he'll never be more than a 6% BB guy and that's okay, provided he makes contact when he swings and drops that K rate under 20%.

 

Basically, Rosario's ceiling is probably Puckett-Lite and that's a pretty good player. The type of guy you don't mind hanging around through his arb seasons until he loses a step and/or becomes expensive.

 

But he needs to stop swinging at everything or he's, at best, a fourth outfielder.

 

This is probably one of my complaints about the saber crowd. Walks are good, I agree. But walks tend to be the result of good plate discipline, but not something to constantly strive for. A batter should be willing to let a bad pitch go by, and if the pitcher won't throw strikes, then take the walk... but if said batter gets a good pitch he can drive, then by all means, try and drive it.  Sure, there's a situational awareness of recognizing the count and game situation as well, but by all means, the goal should be getting a pitch you can drive.

 

Rosario's problem is much like what was said in the article. He can hit anything, including pitches he has no business hitting. His walk rate will rise a bit if he's suddenly laying off those pitches that are 3 inches outside. Pitchers will have to adjust, and when they do, it will likely drop again as he's getting more pitches he can hit.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

This is probably one of my complaints about the saber crowd. Walks are good, I agree. But walks tend to be the result of good plate discipline, but not something to constantly strive for. A batter should be willing to let a bad pitch go by, and if the pitcher won't throw strikes, then take the walk... but if said batter gets a good pitch he can drive, then by all means, try and drive it.  Sure, there's a situational awareness of recognizing the count and game situation as well, but by all means, the goal should be getting a pitch you can drive.

 

Rosario's problem is much like what was said in the article. He can hit anything, including pitches he has no business hitting. His walk rate will rise a bit if he's suddenly laying off those pitches that are 3 inches outside. Pitchers will have to adjust, and when they do, it will likely drop again as he's getting more pitches he can hit.

Sure. Agree on all points. My comment about swing rate an Rosario is basically this:

 

Some guys are disciplined and walk. Some guys are disciplined and hit. If Rosario turns into a success story, I suspect he'll fall under the latter category.

 

The Twins don't need him going deep into the count and grinding down a pitcher in the mold of Mauer or Sano, they just need to get him to stop swinging at pitches that bounce three feet in front of the plate. Let his athleticism make contact and drive the ball, just lay off the completely unhittable pitches.

[ThejacKmp]

I'm also not as worried about Rosario in the outfield. I know he makes some boneheaded plays out there but he also makes excellent plays. He's young and should cut down on the boneheaded with good coaching. I think we also forget that he played 2B for big chunks of his relatively short minor league career. He's going to get better as he settles in more in the OF.

 

Very excited to see a Twins OF of Buxton, Kepler and Rosario. That's going to help Twins pitchers a lot.

[ThejacKmp]

 

Sure. Agree on all points. My comment about swing rate an Rosario is basically this:

 

Some guys are disciplined and walk. Some guys are disciplined and hit. If Rosario turns into a success story, I suspect he'll fall under the latter category.

 

The Twins don't need him going deep into the count and grind down a pitcher in the mold of Mauer or Sano, they just need to get him to stop swinging at pitches that bounce three feet in front of the plate. Let his athleticism make contact and drive the ball, just lay off the completely unhittable pitches.

 

I also think the Twins can use him in a lineup more effectively. If he's batting later in the lineup (6th or 7th) he'll have guys on base more often. He'll get better pitches and that aggressiveness can be an asset. Really excited for the Twins lineup this year - there will be no dead innings.

[Willihammer]

 

I think Rosario's problems are less with his approach and more with his inability to read pitch type and location quickly enough. Last year he swung and missed at a significantly higher rate than Sano. Unfortunately I see him flaming out.

I definitely think there is an element of that but his approach is the far bigger problem IMO. He doesn't seem to have any kind of gameplan to put himself into hitters counts. I know you don't want to take away a guy's aggressiveness but there is a point of diminishing returns that he is well across.

When he's ahead in the count, he bats 1.148. When behind, .497. That's not a crazy split really, problem is he's only worked ahead in the count 205 of his 898 PAs. By contrast a batter like Torii Hunter worked himself ahead in almost a third of his PAs. And Hunter *only* batted 1.033 when ahead.

 

As an aside, I wonder if this is where a Spanish speaking hitting coach who is also versed in statistics, would be an asset to the team.