Ronald Rosario was a late addition to the Red Sox’ roster for Saturday’s inaugural Spring Breakout showcase against the Braves at JetBlue Park.
As a result of fellow catching prospect Brooks Brannon being removed from the roster for an undisclosed reason, Rosario was officially added to Boston’s roster on Thursday, per his MiLB.com player profile page. The 21-year-old did not get into the game itself on Saturday, with Kyle Teel and Johanfran Garcia handling things behind the plate in the seven-inning exhibition, but it was surely a nice distinction for a lesser-known minor-leaguer such as Rosario.
Unlike Brannon, Teel, Garcia, and Nathan Hickey (who started at DH on Saturday), Rosario is not regarded by outlets such as SoxProspects.com as one of the top catching prospects in Boston’s farm system. The native Venezuelan originally signed with the Red Sox for $50,000 as an international free agent coming out of Palo Negro in July 2019 and was sparingly used after making his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League two years later.
On the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out the 2020 minor-league campaign, Rosario appeared in just six Dominican Summer League games as an 18-year-old in 2021. He saw more playing time the following season in the Florida Complex League, but was still limited to 20 games and 51 plate appearances with Boston’s Fort Myers-based affiliate.
It was not until last season that Rosario began to establish himself as more of a regular. The right-handed hitter broke camp last spring as Low-A Salem’s Opening Day catcher and batted .250/.389/.429 with five doubles, one triple, one home run, 11 RBIs, 10 runs scored, 12 walks, and 22 strikeouts over his first 17 games (72 plate appearances) before earning a promotion to High-A Greenville in early May.
With Greenville, Rosario slashed .260/.344/.377 with 12 doubles, two triples, three homers, 33 runs driven in, 35 runs scored, one stolen base, 27 walks, and 74 strikeouts in 62 games (247 plate appearances) to close out the regular season. He then capped off a strong playoff run by clubbing the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning (and catching the final out) of the Drive’s South Atlantic League title-clinching victory over the Hudson Valley Renegades at Fluor Field on September 19.
All told, Rosario produced at a .258/.354/.388 clip (108 wRC+) with 17 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 44 RBIs, 45 runs scored, one stolen base, 39 walks, and 96 strikeouts in 79 total regular season games (319 plate appearances) between Salem and Greenville last year. Defensively, the 6-foot, 175-pound backstop logged 610 2/3 innings behind the plate in 2023 and threw out 30 of 160 possible base stealers while allowing 14 passed balls and committing 19 errors.
As highlighted in his SoxProspects.com scouting report, Rosario can best be described as a “fringe-average” defender who “doesn’t have the softest hands and can be error prone.” Last June, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote that Rosario “is a good receiver/framer with a 40 arm and ground game.”
Given that he is prone to making mistakes behind the plate, one has to wonder if a position change could be in store for Rosario at some point. He got into eight games as a first baseman for the FCL Red Sox in 2022, but would really need to hit in order to stick there moving forward.
Rosario, who just turned 21 in January, is expected to return to Greenville for the start of the upcoming 2024 minor-league season. Depending on how he fares in his second stint with the Drive, he could put himself in position to make the jump to Double-A Portland before year’s end.
(Picture of Ronald Rosario: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)
Blogging the Red Sox 