Rosario unlikely to join Mets soon
SALT LAKE CITY — OK, let’s get the big issue out of the way: Amed Rosario is not one more Asdrubal Cabrera error away from his major league debut.
“We think he’s going to be a very good player in the very near future,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said Wednesday. “We’re not in any real hurry to move him.”
Alderson, as part of a planned trip, saw the Mets’ top prospect play two games this past week at Smith’s Ballpark as the Mets Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate took on the Angels’ Salt Lake Bees. The GM’s first-hand observations meshed with what the organization already thought, as well as what most industry folks appear to think: There is little doubt Rosario could help the Mets right now if they needed him. And there also is little doubt he could benefit from more grooming at the top minor league rung.
“I think so far this season is so far going pretty excellent, I would say,” Rosario, who sat with The Post for two interviews at Smith’s Field, said through an interpreter. “I think we’re really seeing the fruits of the labor that’s been put in.”
Entering Saturday’s action, Rosario owned a . 339/. 379/. 500 slash line in 60 games, impressive even in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. And his defense looks better than his offense. The 21-year-old seems to have it all on the defensive side: mobility, quick movements, a great arm and old-fashioned intuition.
“His body allows him to do some things that are unteachable,” a scout from another team said of Rosario, who is listed as 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds in the Mets’ 2017 media guide.
It is no secret as to where Rosario could use the most work.
“I think I’m really focusing on my strike zone,” he said. “I think in the past, it’s been pretty wide, and I’m really trying to narrow that down and to avoid swinging at pitches that are out of that strike zone.”
Through Friday, Rosario had tallied 44 strikeouts and 15 walks in 269 plate appearances.
“He’s such a good talent to be able to get the barrel on the ball that sometimes, he can actually chase out of the zone and still put the barrel on it,” said Jack Voigt, the 51s’ hitting coach. “Now, in a way, that’s good. But the higher levels you go up to, out of the zone is going to be too far out of the zone. And pitchers up there are going to be able to repeat. The more we can get him to not chase those, the more he’s going to bring the ball back to the middle of the plate, where he is so strong.
“His biggest thing we’ve been working on here is trying to get him a little bit lower in his legs. That will allow his head and his eyes to stay down a little more, and he can see the ball better as it’s got that downward tilt.”
Rosario had totaled 516 plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A before Saturday’s game. That puts him well ahead of the Astros’ star shortstop Carlos Correa, who clocked 246 plate appearances at those two levels. Yet Corey Seager, the Dodgers’ star shortstop, racked up 711 plate appearances at the two highest rungs before getting the call. For Francisco Lindor, the Indians’ star shortstop, it was 920.
The state of the major league team “always factors into potential promotions from the minor leagues,” Alderson said. “If you’re playing well, promotions tend not to happen, if you’re playing poorly, don’t want the poor play to reside on the shoulders of a young player you bring up. It can cut both ways.”