Amed Rosario Adapts Quickly To Majors

Best Player: SS Amed Rosario

The 21-year-old Rosario’s callup to the Mets came on Aug. 1, when he was installed as the team’s starting shortstop. He certainly earned his call up by batting .328/.367/.466 with seven homers and 58 RBIs in 94 games at Triple-A Las Vegas while excelling defensively.

“I think he is going to be a star,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He has great hands and great actions in the field. He caught up to the speed of the game easily, and he’s just going to get better.”

In his first month in the majors, Rosario impressed the Mets with his power burst, hitting four homers—including two that gave the Mets the lead in the late innings. “He has more power than I thought he had,” Collins said. “Everybody talked about the number of home runs, but they were big hits, and if you get big hits you are going to be dangerous.”

Best Pitcher: RHP Corey Oswalt

Barely on the organization’s radar in April, Oswalt had a season that significantly boosted his stock. The 24-year-old was named Eastern League pitcher of the year after going 12-5, 2.28 in 24 starts for Double-A Binghamton, where he struck out 119 and walked 40 in 134.1 innings.

“He’s a major leaguer,” said a talent evaluator who has scouted Oswalt, a 2012 seventh-round pick out of high school. “Not a ton of upside—but solid. He’s a back-of-the-rotation type.”

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Oswalt relies heavily on a sinker, and his fastball tops out at 95 mph. In 2016 he was limited to 14 appearances at high Class A St. Lucie because of shoulder discomfort.

Keep An Eye On: 1B Pete Alonso

Alonso missed six weeks early in the season with a broken hand and then struggled at the plate upon his return. But the 22-year-old first baseman came on strong for St. Lucie and earned a promotion to Double-A Binghamton. Overall, he hit .289/.359/.524 with 18 home runs and 63 RBIs in 93 games at the two levels.

“He’s just hitting into better luck—he was always hitting the ball hard,” said a major league talent evaluator who has watched Alonso, the 2016 second-rounder out of Florida.

If there is a concern about Alonso, it’s his unsteady play at first base, which has prompted his occasional starts at DH.