The Cleveland Indians were in action Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels and shortstop Amed Rosario got the start in center field.
This experiment was reported on a few days back and fans were eager to see how it would go.
It went, well, bad.
Rosario has rarely played any outfield in his career and it showed in a big way.
Trial No. 1 for Amed Rosario in center field resulted in an E8. He attempted to make a catch moving over to right-center field, and it popped right out of his glove.
Tito on Rosario in CF yesterday: "There’s not a lot of experience out there, so we’re gonna have to be patient."
— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) March 16, 2021
Rosario Has a Rough Day in Center
There is no need to overreact about a bad first experience in the outfield.
Anyone who has ever played outfield at any level knows the pros make it look way easier than it actually is on the field.
Professional outfielders always seem to take the perfect path and wait right under the ball moments after it leaves the bat.
Rosario is a natural infielder and was thrown right into game action at the MLB level.
The first error was a ball popping out of his glove.
Then a second followed.
Trial No. 2…..another E8.
— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) March 16, 2021
The errors didn’t stop there as Rosario had a third mishap that continued the unearned run fest for the Angels.
Amed Rosario made a catch after his first two drops, but on a single in shallow center, he booted the ball while fielding it before throwing the ball away, permitting another run to score.
Then Ohtani hit a ball to Las Vegas.
Angels lead it 9-2 in the third.
— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) March 16, 2021
He finished the day with three errors in what was a brutal debut in center.
However, he did manage to get two hits out of the leadoff spot, so the day wasn’t a total disaster.
Results of the Errors
Shane Bieber got the start and had a truly bizarre final line.
He went three innings, allowing seven hits and nine total runs.
But only one of the nine runs was actually marked as earned.
More errors were made in the game and the Indians pitching staff finished the day by allowing only four earned runs even though the Angels scored 17 runs in total.
Making five errors will usually result in a box score that looks straight out of a little league game.
It would be easy for the Indians to just end the Rosario outfield experiment.
But they clearly like what they see from him in general and want him in the lineup.
He should get some more work before a final decision is made.
However, it is already March 16 and the Indians are trying to teach him an entirely new position on the fly.
Maybe a trade will ultimately be sought if they are so convinced Rosario will get zero time in the infield in 2021.
The last thing fans want to see is someone making error after error when there are plenty of capable outfielders waiting in the system.
We will wait and see if Rosario can turn it around, or if the Indians abandon the project altogether as roster moves continue to be made.
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