According to Baseball-Reference.com, seven of the Cleveland Indians’ leaders in WAR (wins above replacement) are pitchers, including Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac, all of whom have missed considerable time this year due to injury.
The only position players who rank among the top ten are Jose Ramirez, Franmil Reyes, and Harold Ramirez. Bradley Zimmer ranks 11th, and it is very telling that Oscar Mercado, who has appeared in 16 games for Cleveland (44 plate appearances) is 12th.
What does that say about the guys who have spent most of the year on the big league roster?
One Tribesman who has received positive reviews is SS/CF Amed Rosario, who came over to Cleveland from the New York Mets in the Francisco Lindor transaction.
Rosario has stabilized the #2 spot in the batting order and has very good speed, and plays hard. That’s the good stuff.
Offensively, he’s basically a platoon player. Against lefties, he has a .287 batting average and a 788 OPS, getting 11 extra base hits in 108 at bats. But right-handed pitchers have held him to a .260 batting average and a 641 OPS, with just 10 extra base hits in 208 at bats.
He also doesn’t walk. We were concerned when he was acquired that he walked just four times all season for the Mets in 2020. He’s only drawn 18 free passes for the Indians this year, which is 5.3% of his times at the dish.
For contrast, that’s just slightly better than Harold Ramirez, described by many as a free swinger. Ramirez walks in 4.6% of his at bats. Ramirez also has just one less extra base hit than Amed Rosario, despite having over 100 less plate appearances.
And defensively, let’s just say A. Rosario is not going to be a finalist for the Gold Glove in the American League once the season ends.
Rosario stands out because most of the other people Terry Francona writes on a lineup card each day is pretty mediocre. That’s not to say he’s terrible, he has very good speed and is a very good baserunner, and he likes to hit the ball where it is pitched, which is a lost art in baseball these days.
But players with a 691 OPS are not good hitters. Rosario has a poor strikeout to walk ratio (67:18) and doesn’t hit for power, and we don’t mean home runs, but extra base hits. That’s why people look at on base percentage and slugging percentage. They are important statistics.
We remember many years ago when Tribe fans and media alike fawned over Felix Fermin, who handled balls hit at him very well, but didn’t have much range. When Fermin was sent to Seattle in the deal that brought Cleveland Omar Vizquel, we told people they would soon see what a great defensive shortstop really looked like.
Their frame of reference was watching players who were basically average. When you are used to that, above average looks much better.
And that’s Amed Rosario at the plate. When compared to the rest of the Tribe lineup, he stands out. In a solid lineup, he’s batting 8th or 9th. There’s nothing wrong with that, just don’t be fooled.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 