Last season, Amed Rosario was a key cog in the Cleveland Guardians winning the American League Central Division championship.
He was third in the league in hits with 180 and led the AL in triples with nine. He was a big reason the Guardians’ offense put pressure on opposing defenses. Along with leadoff man Steven Kwan and #3 hole hitter Jose Ramirez, the Guards would go first to third relentlessly with three speedsters at the top of the lineup.
Rosario isn’t an on base machine, because he rarely walks, but he hit .283 and had a .312 on base percentage, so he was effective where he was at.
However, the shortstop’s value as an everyday player comes from his batting average because as we said, he doesn’t walk, and he really isn’t an extra base hit machine either.
For example, last year Rosario slugged .403 about the same as Kwan. What makes Kwan a better than average offensive player was his .373 on base average, about 60 points higher than the man who follows him to the plate most nights.
FYI, Kwan’s OBP has dipped this season to .342.
The three seasons Rosario had an OPS+ of over 100 (that’s average), his batting averages were .287 (2019), .282 (2021), and .283 (2022). If he’s not hitting at around the .275 level, he’s a poor offensive player. Right now, he’s at 65.
Now you make think that’s true for everyone, but it’s not. Currently, Josh Naylor has an OPS+ of 109 and he’s batting just .253. But Naylor walks a bit more and has 16 extra base hits, making his slugging percentage .437.
The right-handed hitter currently has the worst OPS+ among Cleveland regulars, yes worse than Myles Straw (77), Mike Zunino (73), and Will Brennan (82). Another disappointment for the Guardians is free agent signee Josh Bell, and he’s at 92.
Cleveland lives with Straw’s below average offense (for how much longer, we will see) because he’s an elite defensive centerfielder, a Gold Glove winner a year ago.
Rosario is a below average defender. He ranks last on the Guardians in defensive runs saved, just behind Zunino. You can probably make the argument that of the shortstops currently on the big league roster, including Andres Gimenez, who played the position in the minor leagues, he’s the worst defensively.
That list would include Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, and Brayan Rocchio, who has played a pair of games there.
So what gives?
We realize many people will use the argument that Rosario is a close friend of Jose Ramirez, who lobbied for a contract extension for him last season, but we refuse to believe that’s the reason, management keeps writing his name in the lineup.
We think it’s the usual patience vs. stubbornness we see from the organization all the time. They believe based on the past two seasons, Rosario will get hot any day now, and the team will reap the benefits.
But that’s the problem with hitters whose entire worth is based on batting average and another problem with players who don’t have an idea of the strike zone. Rosario’s strikeout to walk ratio for his career is 607:136, he’s never walked more than 31 times in a season.
His walk ratio is actually up this year (5.8% compared to his lifetime mark of 4.5%), but his strikeout rate (22.3%) is also higher (19.9%). Pitchers usually figure out they can get these guys out without throwing strikes, thus the effectiveness wanes.
We aren’t saying to “run away” from Rosario, as Francona likes to say. However, we are saying perhaps it’s time to see what Freeman and/or Arias can do with increased playing time.
That Rosario can be a free agent after this season, doesn’t help his argument.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 