New York Mets’ top prospect, the number two shortstop prospect, and the top prospect in all of baseball. These are just a few things that the Mets’ Amed Rosario has added to his resume. The 21-year-old out of the Dominican Republic signed with the Mets as an international free agent back in July of 2012. Since then, his $1.75 million bonus has not only been justified but is looking more and more like a bargain.
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Rosario has held his own throughout the minors. He officially broke out in 2016 with a campaign that shot him up the prospect rankings. Across two stops in 2016, Rosario batted .324 with five homers, 71 RBI, and 19 stolen bases. His ability to make good contact has transitioned into extra-base power, and more should come as he develops. Rosario has a great athletic frame, that will help him at every part of his game. He’s quick, is a great base stealer, and a plus-plus defender at short. If you’re playing “prospect bingo” while reading this, your card should be full by now. Amed Rosario is the full package.
Rosario was added to the Mets’ 40-man roster at the end of 2016. Fast forward to today. He is batting .397 with a .444 OBP and five stolen bases at Triple-A Las Vegas. He’s struck out just ten times in 81 plate appearances. In the field he’s seen time at both shortstop and third base and has performed well at both.
In New York, the Mets are spiraling downward and have dropped nine of their last ten games. Their offense has been nonexistent. Jose Reyes, Curtis Granderson, and Neil Walker are batting .114, .141, and .197 respectively. Reyes is doing very little to fill the hole left by David Wright at third. The list goes on and on.
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Fantasy Baseball 2017 | Amed Rosario, Willy Adames, J.P. Crawford | The Baseball Show ⚾️ https://t.co/CMRERrskcz pic.twitter.com/lHTuF4RpQV
— Fantrax (@Fantrax) March 25, 2017
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[the_ad id=”384″]The Mets are in dire need of an adrenaline boost, and the young Rosario could provide just that. It’s understandable for the Mets to want to keep him in the minors for service time concerns, but they need to start worrying about today. The Mets are not in a rebuilding phase, and right now they have the looks of a team that is. We’re only four weeks in so obviously the season is not lost, but the Mets need to make changes before things get out of hand.
From a fantasy perspective, Rosario needs to be on everyone’s radar. For dynasty leaguers, this should be old news, but he has forced his way onto teams in all formats. He’s up to 43 percent owned in Fantrax leagues, and has been consistently rising each week. Whether it’s for a few weeks or the rest of the season, Rosario will make his debut in 2017. When he does, he has all the tools to be a fantasy star. His game-changing speed is valuable in a game where stolen bases are scarce. His power will come in time, and should complement is speed well. The Mets have the next big thing in Amed Rosario. They’re waiting to pull the trigger on him, fantasy owners should not.
Might be seeing Rosario within a day or two in the majors. Cabrera just came off the field with what looked like a broken thumb.
Cabrera’s MRI after the game came back clean. He is probably only going to be day to day.
The Mets might be in a rebuilding mode in the near future. I’m not so sure that they will be able to tread water with all of their starting pitchers going down to injury. I think they will have to find a taker for Asdrubal Cabrera in a deal before they can call up Rosario.