I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Atlanta Braves and their organizational loyalty.
On one hand, loyalty is generally a good thing. Loyalty requires commitment, and it means sticking with someone
even through some hard times. It means being there to offer a helping hand when they need it, and in return, they do the same thing for you.
On the other hand, clinging to it as a crutch can lead to sticking with people long after they’ve shown you who they are. Now, this is baseball, and it’s not as serious as a personal relationship. But, it does involve people.
Bringing back Eddie Rosario is probably part of the argument that the Braves are a bit too loyal, or worse, unimaginative.
How acquired
Having finally more-or-less given up on Jarred Kelenic and with Jurickson Profar suspended, the Braves signed Eddie Rosario to a major league deal for the minimum at the end of April to try to … I don’t know. They had to put someone in left field, I guess. This was Rosario’s third stint with the team — he was a playoff hero after being acquired at the Trade Deadline in 2021 and re-upped on a two-year deal that was a weirdly uncharacteristic no-surplus-but-also-not-a-reliever contract for this Front Office. After that deal expired, he signed a minor league pact with Washington and played for their big league squad, but was eventually released and spent a summer month in Atlanta. Ahead of 2025, he signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers, but got DFAed just a couple of days after being called up in late April; the Braves grabbed him shortly thereafter.
What were the expectations?
Like I said, you have to put a body in left field. It’s basically the rules.
Rosario was actually useful in 2023. Slashing. 255/.305/.450, Steady Eddie was a league-average hitter, and he was worth a little over a win. It was basically a standard Rosario season: decent average, no walks, good pop, little in the way of defense. It’s useful, but you don’t break the bank for it, and you don’t really want to start it (which the Braves did).
The Nationals gave him a whirl in 2024, and he was bad. Now 32 years old, players like this generally start to fall flat on their face — the bat speed slows a bit, and they fall off tightrope they had been walking. But Rosario actually seemed the victim of some bad luck with a .206 BABIP and similar swing metrics to 2023, but the Nationals had enough after 235 plate appearances of a 53 wRC+. Atlanta tried him again, but things went off the rails, watching his strikeouts rise, walks plummet further than they already were, and no power to speak of. His wRC+ was 23. He finished 2024 with an absurd -2.0 fWAR in just 319 PAs. Did he underhit his xwOBA? Yes. Was the xwOBA horrific by itself? Also yes.
Maybe at 33, he could rediscover some magic, but even given some bad luck in 2024, you still don’t bet a lot on 33 year olds like this. His projections were basically notably below replacement level, which, given his awful 2024 and another horrible season in 2022… yeah. That’s not a guy you expect to show up in the majors for more than a cup of coffee.
2025 results
Well, Rosario can still bop Triple-A pitchers.
Signed to a minor-league deal with the Eventual World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the veteran mashed in Triple-A enough for the Dodgers to call him up for two games, give him four PAs, and send him in his merry way.
Atlanta signed him, gave him three games, four PAs, and sent him on his merry way. He made a nifty sliding catch, but his most notable moment was pinch-hitting for Eli White, who was red-hot, against the Reds. He promptly struck out, and when Brian Snitker was asked why the hell he did it, he said he hoped Rosario could recreate some of magic. See what I mean?
Rosario went on to get some time in Milwaukee’s Triple-A team, but he opted out of his contract there before getting to make an appearance in Milwaukee.
What went right?
He can still hit Triple-A pitching.
He made a nice sliding catch.
What went wrong?
He can’t hit major-league pitching, and he can’t really defend, despite the aforementioned sliding catch.
I guess it’s not entirely fair to say all of that. He got 8 PAs in the majors, so that’s not enough to really read into. Rosario crushed Triple-A pitching, and there’s enough reason to believe that he can still somewhat hit MLB pitching.
He just doesn’t do anything else but hit for occasional power, and teams are just going to move onto younger players at this point. Also there was that whole pinch-hitting mess. With the tying run on first and two out in the ninth, Emilio Pagan threw Rosario four pitches out of the zone and got two whiffs, a foul, and a take. He then threw a pitch in the zone, and Rosario missed it to end the game.
Also worth noting is that Rosario’s only start for the Braves this year came in a one-run loss to the Rockies, where Rosario made two outs with the tying run in scoring position, and then struck out on three pitches to lead off the eighth. Ouch.
2026 outlook
Steamer says, as a central estimate, he can hit to the tune of a 77 wRC+. So there’s that.
If I had to really guess, he either retires during the offseason or gets a minor league deal somewhere and gives it another go as a 34-year-old. I’m not sure if the retirement will be truly voluntary, but I don’t imagine there are going to be many teams looking for an older hitter who has (maybe) some pop left and nothing else, really.
But we’ll always have 2021.
