The Phillies have signed infielder Adam Rosales to a minor league contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). The veteran utilityman will earn a $1.75MM base salary if he makes the roster and will be in Major League camp this spring. He’s represented by Hilliard Sports Management.
The 34-year-old Rosales (35 in May) split the 2017 campaign between the Athletics and Diamondbacks, batting a combined .225/.260/.353 with seven homers in 312 plate appearances. While that clearly marked a rough season for the versatile Rosales, he’s just a year removed from a considerably more heartening .229/.319/.495 slash and a career-best 13 home runs (through just 248 plate appearances) with the Padres.
Rosales can play all four infield positions, having logged more than 550 innings at each of first base, second base, third base and shortstop in a decade-long MLB career. A right-handed hitter, Rosales’ career OPS is nearly 100 points higher when facing left-handed pitching, and he was especially effective with the platoon advantage in the aforementioned 2016 campaign, posting an .843 OPS with six homers in 115 PAs against southpaws.
The Phillies don’t have a clearly defined utility infielder at present, so Rosales will head to the camp and compete with prospect Jesmuel Valentin and fellow non-roster invitee Pedro Florimon for a bench job.
Goldman man of MLBTR finds a permanent home
He’ll be on the Rangers or A’s by June 1!!
Cue WestCoastRyan saying Rosales is an elite player.
I never called him an elite player you idiot. Just that he’s a lot better than he gets credit for on here and other sites. Like after Alexei Ramirez got released someone commented “Good. I hope Adam Rosales follows him” despite Rosales finishing the season with a .814 OPS. People act like the guy is striking out in over half his PA’s with an OPS south of .600.
Outside of last year he was a solid, underrated utility player
Love it when he sprints to 1st after a walk
He learned that with the Pads i believe
Or in little league
I also love how he sprints around the bases on a home run.
Pete Rose would sprint to first base after a walk. He did that his whole career.
Shocked he didn’t sign with A’s again
What do people think is a decent slash like for a bench player?
Well… If he does any better than Blanco did for us last year, its a win signing.
I suppose this isn’t too bad of a signing.
My favorite Adam Rosales memory was in Cincinnati when he sprinted around the bases after a homer, and then the broadcast team compared his time around the bases to the time it took Lou Pinella to get out to the mound in the same game. Rosales was faster.
Hump de bump doop bodu
Bump de hump doop bop
Hump de bump doop bodu…
Great walkup song!