Amed Rosario: The Struggles are Real.

Hello again my Friends, It's Sunday and you know that means, right? 

It means it's time for more Sunday reading, Lets begin!

Amed Rosario, The Mets young shortstop of the future has had some intense struggles as this season. Not so much with his bad, but more so with his glove at Shortstop. This season alone he has a terrible 9 Errors at the Shortstop on routine plays that he should make in his sleep.

"Could this be a simple defensive slump he's in? "

"Could this be a confidence issue? "

"Could this be that He's not fit for the Major Leagues?"

"Could this be that he's a bust?"

Two out of the Four of those questions are possible. Let me start with the two Questions that were asked to me recently which were "Not fit for the Major Leagues" and "He could be a bust."

This article will be based on these Four Questions/Statements.

"He's not fit for the Major Leagues"


In August of 2017, The hype around Amed Rosario. He was one of, if not the top rated Prospect in the League. However, with all the hype of everyone calling him Ready for the Major Leagues and the Shortstop of the future and fans demanding the Mets call him up in favor of the Struggling Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes at the time, Rosario's defense was definitely questionable in Triple-A Las Vegas. 

He committed a total of 19 Defensive errors all together, 17 errors at Shortstop and 2 at 3rd Base. A Small pause for concern, but Fans deemed Rosario acceptable to be called up, despite the questionable defense. However, Rosario had one of the best Shortstops in the game teach him everything he knows in Jose Reyes. Reyes was in Contact with Rosario while Rosario was in the Minor Leagues being a terrific Mentor to Rosario.

I'm not going to dive into the offensive portion of Rosario when he was called up, but lets Just say it wasn't terrific. 

Fast Forward to the 2018 Season. Rosario and Reyes make the Major League squad. Rosario's bat was undisciplined, Swinging at everything. Eventually, throughout the Season, Rosario got it together and even did a decent job in the Leadoff spot in September. Rosario, despite committing 16 errors had a relatively good first full season as a Met.

Turn the hands of time forward to today and Rosario is struggling heavily. Not so much with his bat, but defensively. Rosario isn't making routine plays off either groundballs hit to him, when trying to tag a runner out trying to advance to 2nd Base on what could be a double or even some line outs that he typically makes in his sleep. 


"He's a Bust"

I severely doubt that a 23 year old player is a bust! For a reference, Please check out my article on Dominic Smith entitled "Dominic Smith, 23 Year old Prospect or Bust"

But this is about Rosario, not Smith.

There is absolutely no way in the Baseball world that a 23 Year old Amed Rosario is a Bust. How can anyone, How can any Baseball fan in their right mind consider a 23 year old a bust? This isn't the NFL or the NBA where you are immediately playing for the Team right out of the Draft. Baseball, you're drafted and spend years in the Minor Leagues developing! 

I'm not going to make many NFL/NBA Comparisons due to the fact that I'm not that strong int he Realm of Football and really don't know much about Basketball.

If Rosario were in his late 20's/early 30's and performing like this, I'd say yes, he's a bust, but he's 23! He has plenty of career left in him! He'll get through these struggles, but to label him a bust so early in his career is outlandish! 

"Confidence Issues"

Rosario is clearly struggling with the 9 errors attached to his stat sheet. It's entirely possible that it could be Just a mental thing and frustration, but the interesting part is, that these mistakes are 100% Fixable. Despite that, Jose Reyes is no longer with the team. However, The Mets recently called up defensive infield Veteran, Adeiny Hechavarria to provide more infield depth. 

For the sake of Spelling mistakes and me constantly struggling to spell his name, I'm going to refer to Hechavarria as "Hech"

With Hech up with the Mets, this gives the Mets a 2nd Shortstop option. In my Humble opinion, I think Rosario needs a couple of days off just for a Mental break. During said Break, The Mets can give Hech the starts at Shortstop.  I understand why the Mets don't want to sit Rosario just yet. He's 23 years old, very young and can work through this. 

"Defensive Slump"

This could very well be a factor, as stated above, this is probably mental. Rosario's defense was indeed Questionable when he was called up, but it was constantly insisted by fans that he was Major League material over Cabrera and Reyes. 

This season, everyone either wants Rosario in the MInor leagues or gone. Remember this, he's 23 years old and has plenty of time to get it figured out. These mistakes listed above are mechanical and may be mental. The Good part is, that these mistakes whether Mental or Mechanical are very easily fixable. 

Will it take a couple of days in the form of a Mental break? Certainly possible.  Will it take him playing everyday to grind it out mechanically or simply a change in the way he steps or sets up? That's possible too. 

All these things considered, it's well to early to throw in the towel on Rosario. Every player in the Major league goes through Slumps whether offensive or Defensive. They work through their slumps at different rates and in different ways. The only thing that fans can do for Rosario is give him time to work through the struggles he's in. He'll get it. Even his old Mentor, Jose Reyes answered a fans response on twitter asking if he was concerned about Rosario and Reyes answered "He be fine" with a prayer palms emoji. Take it as you want.

That does it for Today.

Until the Next Article,

LETS GO METS!!!