2017 Twins Player Predictions: Eddie Rosario

I dig Rosario and hope that management allows him to just play his game. His aggressiveness at the plate makes for some ugly BB/SO numbers, but I'd love to see the coaching staff just get out of the way of our outfielders and let them do their thing. They're a young group. Experience will be a good teacher. They don't need to compete this year. They need to grow and figure out their own way to find success.

 

Eddie Rosario: 516 at-bats, .274/.306/.452 (.749), 29 doubles, 6 triples, 17 home runs.

I think we would all be thrilled with that.

I also hope he improves on his 50% career success rate on attempted steals.

It would be great if at least one of Rosario/Buxton/Sano had a major breakout season.

I'm a big Eddie fan, so I have to temper my enthusiasm. I think Seth has hit the exact middle of the range of Rosario's performance this season.

"Eddie Rosario: 516 at-bats, .274/.306/.452 (.749), 29 doubles, 6 triples, 17 home runs."

Of those numbers, I suspect Rosario can beat 6 triples easily. His gap power is excellent, and he can spray the ball into corners, getting difficult bounces. Eddie has shown that he has quick recognition of weakness when an outfielder is off balance, misjudging a ball or bobbling a ball, and his speed is sufficient for adding an extra base. I have seen him bluff slowing down to 2nd base several times, then turn on the jets to reach 3rd. 

29 doubles actually may be a tad high, partly because I expect Eddie to push for 3rd base whenever it seems possible, meaning fewer doubles and a few more times gunned down at 3rd. 

This brings me to the reason I love Eddie Rosario: He loves the game of baseball. Not just the attention and the money, but the contest to see who can find a way to win. Rosario looks for the little things, like an outfielder that lags just a bit when fielding, or a pitcher that isn't paying attention to the runner. He sees those things and looks to spring traps on people that aren't fully engaged. 

For this reason it's difficult to capture what Rosario represents with a string of statistics. He may "swing at everything" most of the time, but then, at some key point in a game...maybe he won't. Rosario's reputation as a free swinger is well known among pitchers, who may decide to dangle a high heater or an outside curve at a crucial moment, 3 and 2 with a couple runners on, tie game. Rosario knows this, and he's always looking to take advantage...

What will he do? Eddie Rosario knows the game well enough to operate at the level of an expert poker player. He masks his own intentions with an impassive poker face, while reading his opponents for any signs of their intentions. This is so cool, I can hardly tell you. I love Eddie Rosario. He's a real player. 

Projection systems don't look favorably on Rosario. 

I think he is currently underrated, but as to how much he is underrated I have no idea.

We seem to have him rated higher than the projection systems do. We usually overrate our players but Rosario isn't usually a benefactor of that.

My gut tells me that he is a 17 HR, .280 BA, .780 OPS guy, but this is near the upper edge of the spectrum of what the algorithms are spitting out.

Like Jimbo, I am also big on Rosario. I have made predictions on other threads, I am not going to reference them for this thread.

.288BA • 22HRs • 21SB • .800OPS - this includes a trip to the All Star Game.

Don't most regulars play around 150-155 games? do other teams bench starters more than that, to keep guys on the bench fresh? I actually don't know, hence the question.

 

I assumed you meant he'd be benched a lot more than that.

Is about 90 players or so league wide most players?

Eddie has GREAT tools! He has the ability to be a very good  player but.....

Why in the world haven't the hitting coaches over the years worked with him to get the "hitch" out of  his swing? This directly is the reason that his  pitch recognition is bad and he strikes out way to much.

Some  will try to say it is a timing mechanism... hooy! Timing mechanisms are intended to at the end be in the correct hitting position. His hands are going backwards while the pitch is coming at him!  Watched over and  over again last year... drove me nuts! He makes the slight change to where his hands are back at the release of the pitch and I tell you he has a chance to be fairly special ... if not he is just another 4th outfielder type.

I had a hitch in HS and was blessed  to have a guy that had played minor league  ball help me get rid of it. As a coach later helped kids  get  rid  of  it and made the  world of difference. I think it would for him to.... c'mon Mr. Bill Smith you can do it.

For some reason, I think Rosario is either going to be amazing or horrible.  No in between this year.  I'm hoping for a huge .300+ avg with pop great defense and solid baserunning but he could also do .260/.290/.450.  I just think it'll be one of the two.  So let's hope for something like .303/.333/.470

I completely agree it will be one extreme or the other. I also agree that he will be very streaky. I just hope during the down times he does not let his issues at the plate affect his defense. It always brought up he had more RBIs in the Appy league than Sano. I wish his walk rate was a little better. It would be nice to put his RHB between Dozier and Sano or Park and Sano.

I'm looking at .245/290/440. 25 doubles, 8 triples, 18 home runs.

I'm interested in his defense. It seemed to be worse last year than in 2015. I hope he can play great defense to help make the Twins OF trio one of the best in MLB. I remember the days of great defense with Torii & Jacque Jones.

Don't forget all of those outfield assists.  This kid has one of the best arms in the majors and it'll be fun to watch him cut down runners all over the infield this season. 

Agree with twinssporto, Eddie can be great! If he can learn to layoff bad pitches and make the pitcher pitch to him his ceiling is very high. Most players hit way better with a 2-0 count instead of 0-2. If he can get some plate discipline he could hit .300 with 28-30 HR and 20 steals. Rosario, Buxton, Kepler should make an excellent defensive OF which will help are meager pitching staff.i