Amed Rosario had seen his highest ranking ever last week when Baseball Propectus’ Top 50 Midseason Prospects came out and placed him #15 among the elite talent in the minor leagues. Keith Law of ESPN released his Top 50 today with Rosario coming in at #13, a new high for the talented shortstop.
Here is what Law had to say about Rosario:
Rosario returned to high-A to start the year, spent too long at that lower level and finally moved up three weeks ago to Double-A, where he’s hitting .424/.462/.610 in 16 games. He has great bat speed that should lead to more power down the road, although right now he’s more of a hard-contact hitter who seldom strikes out. He has the quickness and arm strength to stay at shortstop and could be the Mets’ solution there at some point in 2017.
On Sunday night, Rosario showed off his talents to a national audience in the Futures Game going 1 for 2 with a run scored, made an impressive play in the field and showed off his blazing speed trying to beat out a ground ball.
First baseman Dominic Smith had been left off Baseball Prospectus Top 50 and came in at #76 on Baseball America’s midseason Top 100. He was ranked number 44 by Law who had this to say about him:
Smith showed off some of his raw power with a little run in late June that helped him set a new career high in homers, but overall his line of .277/.340/.436 is less than I expect for his Double-A debut. He’s still an outstanding defender at first and has no trouble making contact, but he needs to get himself into advantageous counts more frequently to get to that power, whether it’s for doubles or homers. On the other hand, he’s the youngest regular in the Eastern League, younger than 2016 first-rounder Corey Ray and just two weeks older than Nick Senzel, and he’s already more than holding his own in Double-A, so there’s still cause for optimism.
When I saw Smith for Binghamton this year, it was clear to me that he had made some adjustments including getting more loft on the ball and tapping into the natural raw power he has. I had the opportunity to talk to Smith recently which you can read here.
