It could be that some pressure was lifted once the Mets fell out of a postseason race, it could be that his mental health break a few weeks ago has worked, or it could just be that he’s gotten more comfortable in the Major Leagues. But one thing has been evident over the past couple of weeks: Amed Rosario looks like a different player.
For the first three months of 2018, the 22-year-old shortstop looked nothing like the player who had twice been named the Mets’ MiLB.com Organization All-Star. Nothing like the player who had been invited to two Futures Games, and downright dominated Double-A and Triple-A for two years. Prior to his big league promotion last August, Rosario had become the crown jewel of the Mets farm system, and a name the front office took completely off the table in trade discussions. But by the end of June, he had begun to look more like someone who would have difficulty shedding the bust label from his name than a future perennial all-star.
It has gone largely under the radar, but since the calendar turned to July, that narrative has begun to change. After an extended stay on the bench to clear his head Rosario has appeared energized and rejuvenated, in all aspects of his game.
In 18 games this month, the young shortstop has hit .263, a rather noticeable improvement over his .249 mark for the year, but what has been most encouraging is his newfound plate discipline and ability to get on base. Over the first three months of this season, Rosario drew only 13 walks while reaching base at a disappointing .283 clip. He also struck out 58 times in 248 at-bats, largely due to a disconcerting lack of bat control, letting the opposing pitchers just feed him breaking pitches in the dirt without ever having to challenge him with fastballs.
This month, though, Rosario has demonstrated a much better eye at the plate, as evidenced by the eight walks he’s already drawn, which have played an integral role in his .322 July OBP. He’s forced pitchers to come to him, throw more fastballs, and in turn, he’s begun to do significantly more damage at the plate. In 57 July at-bats, Rosario has tripled four times after doing so only twice over the season’s first three months. He’s also added three doubles over that span to push his July slugging percentage all the way up to .472, easily the best individual month of his career.
Another encouraging development is that Rosario has begun to use his phenomenal speed to wreck havoc on the base-paths. Being on base more frequently has certainly helped, but he’s swiped four bases in five tries in July, after stealing only four in eight attempts prior to that. After the All-Star break, manager Mickey Callaway has even begun to hit Rosario lead-off with some regularity, a spot that could become his long-term home if he can continue getting on-base the way he has over the past few weeks. Just the other day he provided a glimpse of what he could be capable of in a table setting role. With out he dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line, stole second base, and scored on a two out hit from Wilmer Flores.
Defensively, the youngster continues to demonstrate better range to his left than to his right, and while he still makes the occasional error, and committed a bad one behind Jacob deGrom the other day, he quite clearly possesses the skill set to be an elite defensive shortstop.
This has obviously become a lost season for the Mets and their fans, but it is important to continue looking for signs of encouragement from this team, and the recent play of Rosario may just head that list. It was easy for fans to be discouraged and disappointed watching him early in the year, but it’s important to remember Rosario is only 22 and still developing as a major leaguer. His July, while the classic example of a small sample, has been promising, and if he can continue to improve into August and September, New York may be able to go into the off-season confident their young shortstop can become a breakout star in 2019.
Photo credit: Isaiah J. Downing – USA Today Sports
He has been better at the plate (although, obviously this is an extreme small sample size, so literally no conclusions can be drawn from it.)
But to my eye test he has looked quite mediocre in the field. His UZR and DEF backs this observation up. It’s kind of disappointing because he’s never going to be an all star with his bat, the best he can hope for is solid-average, so he needs to have great defense in order to be valuable, and he really hasn’t showcased that he has that.
Granted, he’s a 22 year old playing in the MLB so that’s not nothing and maybe he needs time to adjust still, but defensive skills tend to trend downward, not upward.