SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – In October 2021, Eddie Rosario electrified the Braves - and their fans - with one of the hottest runs you will ever see in a postseason. He dominated the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, which is a performance for which he’ll always be beloved by Braves Country.
This is the pinnacle, by far, of his Braves tenure.
That time could be over.
The Braves on Monday declined Rosario’s $9 million club option, which made him a free agent. The Braves like Rosario, but now risk losing him.
The Braves had until 5 p.m. on Monday to finalize their decisions on players’ contract options. They exercised their option on Charlie Morton, and declined those on Rosario, Kirby Yates, Collin McHugh and Brad Hand.
No matter how this all went down – and baseball is a business – Rosario will always be remembered for winning NLCS MVP. In that series, he went 14-for-25 with a double, a triple, three home runs and nine RBIs. He struck out only three times in 28 plate appearances as the Braves punched a ticket to the World Series.
The Braves could still bring back Rosario, but they opted to let him hit the open market. He had an up-and-down tenure in the regular season after president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos acquired him as he rebuilt the outfield in 2021.
In 2022, Rosario started 3-for-44. Soon, the reason became clear: He had blurred vision and swelling in his right eye, and he needed a laser eye procedure to correct it. It threw off his entire year.
In 2023, he hit .255 with a .755 OPS. He blasted 21 homers. He was a Gold Glove Award finalist at left field in the National League, an award the Cubs’ Ian Happ eventually won.
Rosario, who has great bat-to-ball skills, saw his strikeout rates climb. In 2022 and 2023, they were 25.2% and 23.6%, respectively – up from 14.8% in 2021. Still, he can be a productive member of a lineup. He’s also a decent left fielder. He was worth 1.1 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference.
It’s fair to believe Anthopoulos might have a plan for how he wants to handle left field. If nothing else, the Braves could bring back Rosario if they want to go that route. But their offense is so good that Rosario doesn’t leave an irreplaceable void.
In total, Rosario hit .244 with a .721 OPS over 255 regular-season games in a Braves uniform. The Braves’ offense is so good that it didn’t need Rosario to be superhuman, but he perhaps left a bit to be desired. Still, the Braves only paid him $18 million over two seasons after re-signing him, and his production probably justified the cost.
Then again, perhaps it’s foolish to be talking about regular-season numbers in this story.
After all, Rosario became one of the most memorable postseason heroes in Braves history because of what he did two years ago. He might have played his final game in an Atlanta uniform, but his iconic playoff performance won’t soon be forgotten.
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