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Randy Rosario

Royals Make Multiple Roster Moves

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The Royals announced (Twitter links) several minor moves today, including the news that infielder Humberto Arteaga has been released.  Kansas City also outrighted left-hander Randy Rosario to the team’s alternate training site, while minor league righties Jonathan Bowlan and Jon Heasley have both been added to the 60-man player pool and will also report to the alternate site.

Rosario will remain in the K.C. organization after he was designated for assignment on Thursday to clear a spot for newly-acquired outfielder Edward Olivares.  After coming to Kansas City on a waiver claim last September, Rosario’s first full season with the Royals has been a struggle, over the small sample size of 3 1/3 innings.  Rosario has a 8.10 ERA after allowing three runs from seven hits and three walks over four appearances.

Arteaga had been part of the Royals’ 60-man player pool but never got the call up to the big league roster this season.  An international signing from the Dominican Republic in 2010, Arteaga’s long stay in the Royals’ farm system finally paid off with his first MLB promotion in 2019, as he hit .197/.258/.230 in 135 plate appearances.  Arteaga has mostly played shortstop during his career, but he also offers experience at second and third base to any new team who could be looking for utility infield depth.

Bowlan and Heasley are both 23 years old, and were both members of the Royals’ 2018 draft class — Bowlan was selected in the second round (58th overall) and Heasley in the 13th round.  Neither pitcher has worked above the A-ball level, so it’s probably unlikely that either will be promoted to the MLB roster, though their inclusion at the alternate training site will help continue their development given the lack of any proper minor league baseball this season.

Royals Designate Randy Rosario For Assignment, Promote Edward Olivares

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The Royals have designated left-hander Randy Rosario for assignment in order to open a spot on the active roster for outfielder Edward Olivares, who has been recalled from the alternate training site and will start tonight’s game in center field, manager Mike Matheny announced to reporters (Twitter link via Alec Lewis of The Athletic). Olivares was acquired in the trade that sent closer Trevor Rosenthal to the Padres.

Rosario, 26, was a somewhat promising bullpen prospect as he rose through the Twins’ system several years back, posting quality numbers in the upper minors before getting hit hard in a brief debut look in 2017. The new Minnesota front office took him off the 40-man roster, and upon landing with the Cubs, Rosario turned in a 3.66 ERA in 46 2/3 frames of work as a rookie in 2018. However, his 30-to-22 K/BB ratio in that time didn’t inspire much confidence, and Rosario has indeed been hit hard in subsequent seasons. Dating back to 2019, he has a 5.09 ERA in just 17 2/3 innings.

The Royals had spoken favorably of the hard-throwing Rosenthal, with GM Dayton Moore expressing a desire to keep him long-term, but the addition of Olivares to the Padres’ offer likely made it too tempting to overlook. The 24-year-old got out to a poor .176/.224/.294 start in his debut season this year, but that ugly line came in a tiny sample of just 36 plate appearances.

The overall body of work for Olivares in the minors is much more favorable, highlighted by a .283/.349/.453 showing in the Double-A Texas League last year. That production may not appear especially potent at first glance, but it was 23 percent better than that of a league-average hitter in an extremely pitcher-friendly environment, per wRC+, and Olivares adds plenty of value on the bases and in the field as well.

Beyond the 18 homers on which he connected last year, Olivares collected 25 doubles and a pair of triples while going 35-for-45 in stolen base attempts. Olivares has fanned in a relatively low 17.6 percent of his career minor league plate appearances and is considered an average or better outfielder capable of playing all three spots. At the very least, he seems capable of stepping in as a quality fourth outfielder, but the rebuilding Royals will likely give him ample opportunity to seize an everyday spot in their outfield moving forward.

Royals Claim Randy Rosario

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The Royals have claimed southpaw Randy Rosario off waivers from the Cubs, as per a team announcement.  Rosario was designated for assignment by Chicago earlier this week.  To create a 40-man roster spot, Kansas City recalled infielder Kelvin Gutierrez and placed him on the 60-day injured list.

Rosario posted a 5.91 ERA over 10 2/3 innings for the Cubs this season, a decided step back from the 3.66 ERA he delivered over 46 2/3 relief frames in his 2018 rookie season.  Per ERA predictors, however, Rosario was fortunate (4.68 FIP, 4.60 xFIP, 4.74 SIERA) to escape at least an extra run’s worth of damage in 2018, as the grounder specialist only notched a 5.79 K/9.

This season saw Rosario miss more bats to the tune of an 8.4 K/9 in his brief time in Chicago, though his Triple-A numbers (3.11 ERA, 2.21 K/BB rate, 7.4 K/9) were almost an exact match for his career numbers over 413 minor league innings in the Cubs’ and Twins’ organizations.  Rosario has shown some very good splits against left-handed batters, giving him a possible path to regular work as a specialist in Kansas City’s bullpen.

Cubs Designate Randy Rosario

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The Cubs have designated Randy Rosario, per a club announcement (h/t Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, on Twitter). That’s the corresponding move for the previously reported promotion of top prospect Nico Hoerner.

In other news, the club has recalled James Norwood and optioned fellow righty Adbert Alzolay. Indications are that the club decided that Alzolay had thrown enough innings — just over eighty at all levels — on the heels of an injury-limited 2018 season. While there was no need to utilize the option to create active roster space, that’ll hit pause on Alzolay’s service clock.

Rosario, 25, had turned in good results for the Chicago organization in 2018, albeit with less-than-promising peripherals. The groundball-oriented southpaw ended up spending the bulk of the present campaign at Triple-A. Through 59 2/3 total innings at the MLB level, Rosario carries a 5.13 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 along with a 53.6% groundball rate.

Cubs Claim Randy Rosario From Twins

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The Cubs announced that they’ve claimed left-hander Randy Rosario off waivers from the Twins. Chicago’s 40-man roster count now sits at 33 players.

The 23-year-old Rosario was rocked in his big league debut with the Twins this past season (eight runs in 2 1/3 innings) but has been considered among the team’s 20 to 30 best prospects in recent years. A hard-throwing lefty out of the Dominican Republic, Rosario’s performance has deteriorated as he’s ascended through Minnesota’s minor league ranks. This past season, he tossed 57 1/3 innings with a 4.08 ERA and 7.1 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 with a 50.9 percent ground-ball rate in Double-A.

To Rosario’s credit, he was dominant at the Double-A level through the season’s first half. However, he collapsed in significant fashion from late July through season’s end, yielding 19 earned runs on 31 hits with a 13-to-11 K/BB ratio in his final 17 2/3 frames at the Double-A level.

Twins Shuffle Bullpen In Series Of Roster Moves

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10:25pm: The Twins are selecting the contract of right-hander Alex Wimmers and recalling left-hander Randy Rosario to fill the two spots in the ’pen, as respectively first reported by Seth Stohs of TwinsDaily.com (Twitter link) and Mariana Guzman of 95.7 FM radio (Twitter link).

Wimmers wasn’t on the 40-man after being previously outrighted, but the former first-round pick will receive another chance to establish himself in the Majors. Minnesota plucked Wimmers out of Ohio State University with the 21st overall pick back in 2010, and though he was touted as a polished starter that could move quickly through the minors, injuries derailed his first several seasons as a pro. Now working out of the bullpen, Wimmers has a 3.94 ERA with a 13-to-7 K/BB ratio through 16 innings in Rochester.

The 23-year-old Rosario, who will be making his MLB debut, has torn through Double-A hitters this year, logging a 1.90 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 54.8 percent ground-ball rate. As noted by Stohs, he posted an 18-to-2 K/BB ratio with just four hits and one earned run allowed in 13 2/3 May innings. MLB.com rates him as Minnesota’s No. 27 prospect, praising his upper-90s fastball but calling his slider inconsistent.

4:33pm: The Twins have designated left-hander Jason Wheeler for assignment and optioned right-hander Ryan Pressly to Triple-A Rochester, the team announced to reporters following today’s loss (Twitter link via Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune). Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN had first tweeted that Pressly would be optioned. A pair of corresponding roster moves will be announced tomorrow.

Wheeler, 26, saw his contract selected just yesterday and made his MLB debut on Tuesday. However, the former eighth-round pick struggled through a pair of relief appearances over the past two days, yielding three runs on six hits and four walks in three innings of work. Generally speaking, the Twins’ abysmal bullpen performance in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Astros (28 runs allowed) necessitated a shuffling of the pitching staff, which undoubtedly contributed to Wheeler’s quick loss of his 40-man spot.

Pressly’s significant struggles this season have been one of the primary reasons that the Twins rank last in the Majors in bullpen ERA. The right-hander had pitched to a 3.36 ERA over his past 131 1/3 Major League innings prior to the 2017 campaign and has steadily seen his fastball velocity rise over the years. Pressly is averaging nearly 96 mph on his heater this season and entered the day with a considerably above-average 13.4 percent swinging-strike rate. However, despite his knack for missing bats, Pressly has been exceptionally home-run prone and has also had quite a bit of poor fortune on balls in play (.356 BABIP). He’s yielded five homers in just 18 innings this season after surrendering eight in 75 1/3 innings last year.

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