The most indispensable Met in 2020
by Gus Livaditis • July 3, 2020
No names. Pick which player you would want if you could only get one:
Player A: Age 26, 248 PA, .329/.381/.471/.852, .359 BABIP, 7/8 SB
Player B: Age 23, 249 PA, .314/.341/.423/.764, .362 BABIP, 8/13 SB
My choice is the second player just based on what we see above. There seems to be more growth potential and upside. It appears both are good players. Now, let’s add the names. Player A was Jeff McNeil in 2018 when he broke into the majors. Player B was Amed Rosario’s last 249 PA last year. My previous comparison was Rosario to Xander Bogaerts, showing that Rosario is on the same trajectory so far in his career. Now however, I’d like to point out just how valuable Rosario will be to the Mets this season and why banking on him seems like a good idea.
Every player grows and often glimpses of improvement can be seen, or even breakout, and the last two months of Rosario’s 2019 are showing breakout. Here the target was a similar amount of plate appearances in order to show how close Rosario was to McNeil’s production, yet three years younger. We all felt McNeil could have been a quality player based on that performance sample, so why can’t Rosario be the same? Sure, there’s some prospect fatigue as Rosario has been around for three years and he has struggled on both sides of the ball. But, good things may be coming and the Mets need it from him. Truth is, there isn’t really anyone else to play SS full time.
I would call Rosario the true wild card of the 2020 season.
ReplyDeleteI have said a number of times that I expect BIG things out of this year. I also expect him to jump the bar and become one of the top five SS in the game.
Rosario could be on the verge of stardom in 2020. Maybe super stardom in 2021 or 2022? One can hope.
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