There's something to be said for a plan coming together,
despite the Mets front office.
New York Mets: Let the Amed Rosario era begin.
Amed Rosario represents an instance where the Mets actually did something right.
They signed him at the age of seventeen as an international free agent in 2013, upon which Rosario promptly logged 58 games at Kingsport of the (R)-Appalachian League. I got my first up-close view of him the following summer when he played here in Brooklyn with the Cyclones. He would then skyrocket over the next three seasons through the ensuing levels of the Mets system.
Amed made his much anticipated MLB debut least season on August 1, 2017, at Coors Field, in which he batted seventh in the order, and went 1 for 4 with a strikeout. He would go on finish out the season at shortstop, but exceeded rookie limits with 165 at-bats, and therefore will not be competing for the ROY award this season, which is somewhat unfortunate.
So far, this is all fairly standard stuff ...
Here's the part the Mets got right - upon completion of Amed's minor league development, they ensured the position was cleared out in preparation for his arrival at Flushing. It sounds simple, but the Mets are well practiced in the art of ponderous transitioning. This time, the plan was handing off the position to Rosario, and they actually followed through.
Asdrubal Cabrera was effectively vacated from the position, and made to embrace the hot corner for the remainder of the 2017 season. Otherwise, there's no lingering stopgap veteran forcing Rosario into playing out of position; or forcing him to ride the bench; nor forcing him into wasting anymore unnecessary time at Las Vegas. Amed will be the Opening Day shortstop for the Mets. The position is his. And the matter is not really open for debate.
Even then, it may behoove Rosario to plant his flag firmly early in the process.
Catcher is the only other position where the Mets have exercised complete commitment to the original plan (to what degree of success, or lack thereof, is another matter). Point being the Mets insist on playing Michael Conforto playing out of position. Juan Lagares and Wilmer Flores were never given fair opportunities for establish themselves. Dom Smith has already been ostracized. And with the emergence of Rosario, Gavin Cecchini has since been transitioning to play second, which in turn bogs him down behind a backlog of the previously eluded to stopgap and patchwork players (i.e., Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera).
All that being said, I'm excited for Amed Rosario to get his first full major league season underway in a timely manner!
- On a side note, Asdrubal is now relegated to playing second base ever since the off-season acquisition of third baseman Todd Frazier. At first Cabrera appeared agreeable with the continuing change in developments, but suddenly changed course and expressed his displeasure. But being that he's in the final season of a three year deal, he perhaps thought better of the matter and backtracked just as quickly, and is now back to playing good soldier again.
The Mets are in dire need of a prototypical lead-off batter, but I'm not so sure Amed can be that guy.
So far, Amed Rosario is having an average go of it in Grapefruit League play.
He missed a few games after being hit by a pitch earlier this month. But as of close of business Saturday, he is 8 for 30 (.267) through twelve games of Grapefruit League play with four extra base hits (against a preponderance of double-A and triple-A pitching because that's just the nature of spring training). Amed is also sporting a suspect .313 OBP. He has fanned five times, but has only drawn one base on balls.
In fact, Rosario has never really been one to take a free pass.
He split the 2016 season between Port St. Lucie and Binghamton, logging his most games played in one season through that point of his minor league career. He posted an overall .374 OBP in 527 total plate appearance (which included a .392 OBP in 237 plate appearances with Binghamton), but only walked forty times all season. He then posted a .367 OBP last year at Las Vegas despite only walking 23 times over 425 plate appearances.
Once called up by the Mets, he only drew three walks in forty games and 170 plate appearances.
At the same time, strikeouts are something Amed Rosario has managed to keep somewhat under control (comparatively speaking, that is). He owned a .187 strikeout average over 1,775 career minor league at-bats. If you compare that against one of the organization's greatest ever lead-off hitters in its history, Jose Reyes maintained a .122 strikeout average during his best seasons with the Mets.
Not unexpectedly, Rosario received a rude welcome from opposing major league pitchers last year. Amed fanned 49 times in 165 at-bats for a .296 average rate. Let's chalk that up to being a rookie, and instead circle back to his minor league trends. Lest we forget he is still only 22-years old.
In each of Amed Rosario's five minor league seasons (with one exception), he registered incremental increases to his OBP/batting average differential:
- 2013 - OBP plus .038 over BA (R)
- 2014 - OBP plus .046 over BA (A-)
- 2015 - OBP plus .049 over BA (A+)
- 2016 - OBP plus .050 over BA (A+, AA)
- 2017 - OBP plus .039 over BA @ Las Vegas ?
None of those differentials stand out, and are far from ideal. What this confirms, though, is that Amed Rosario's OBP is primarily bolstered by his batting average. Which also means Ahmed is all about seeing ball, and hitting ball. The man is a free swinger, but at least makes considerable contact.
Is he a threat on the base paths? He stole seven bases in 46 games last year for the Mets.
Minor League highlights:
- 2013 - 19 stolen bases/120 games.
- 2016 - 13 stolen bases/105 games.
- 2017 - 19 stolen bases/94 games.
As a still unproven prospect, he's at least agreeably adept at making contact, and it's been demonstrated he will not work the count all that much (unless new hitting coach Pat Roessler successfully encourages him into making adjustments). Therefore, I believe Amed Rosario would be a far more effective two-hitter in the batting order (as would Travis d'Arnaud if he could somehow manage to stay on the field).
In the meantime, the search for a lead-off hitter continues.
However, the era of Amed Rosario at shortstop begins now.
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