Atlanta Braves Season Review 2022: Eddie Rosario

There aren’t many players in Atlanta Braves history whose postseason heroics will be as legendary as Eddie Rosario. A part of Alex Anthopoulos’ 2021 trade deadline assault, Rosario joined a struggling and underperforming Braves in August and quickly transformed the team. Rosario hit for a .903 OPS in his 33 games with Atlanta in 2021, helping the team make the playoffs.

Though his great play win the regular season was largely important for Atlanta, the playoffs is where he cemented his legacy as a Braves legend. Rosario was selected as the NLCS MVP after his fantastic series against the Dodgers and would have had perhaps the greatest home run for the Braves franchise in the 2000’s, that being his Game 6 home run off of Walker Buehler, if it weren’t for Jorge Soler’s mammoth home run in Game 6 of the World Series.

After Rosario’s great stretch of regular season games in 2021 and his historic playoff run, many were anticipating a big year for him in 2022. Unfortunately, disappointing play coupled with eye surgery sidelined Rosario for most of the season and made him a non-factor for the Braves.

How was Eddie Rosario’s 2022?

Eddie Rosario might have had one of the worst starts to the year one could possibly imagine. In Rosario’s first 17 games, he recorded three hits, one of those being a double. His 3-44 start, which was a .068 batting average at the time, was abysmal, but he might have had a solid excuse to the terrible start. On April 26, it was announced that Rosario would be out 8-12 weeks due to a laser eye surgery which would fix blurred vision in his right eye. Blurred vision obviously serves as a huge hindrance to one’s ability to hit major league pitching, so many hoped the Eddie Rosario who smashed a homer into the Chophouse to cement the Braves’ NLCS series win would return.

Rosario was definitely better upon his return from eye surgery, but not by much. Rosario returned at the beginning of July and appeared in 65 games and started 55 of those. In 221 plate appearances during that stretch, Rosario posted a .243 batting average and a .659 Ops, definitely better numbers but still not up to the standard many had set for him. Rosario’s defensive numbers  might have been worse. Rosario’s defensive efforts earned him negative six outs above average and negative seven defensive runs saved. His total efforts earned him a -1.1 fWAR, a number few Braves fans could have expected.

What is Eddie Rosario’s future in Atlanta?

Coming into the off-season, many were hoping Rosario would be traded along side Marcell Ozuna. Both of those guys values are so low, finding a trade with any sort of value to the Braves seems exceedingly unlikely. There were also some rumors swirling around of the Braves acquiring a plus outfielder like Bryan Reynolds. While that is still on the table, the likelihood of that trade happening seems to continuously wane by the day. The outcome that seems the most likely outcome is Eddie Rosario is platooned in left field with someone like Adam Duvall. Though this might not be ideal for many, a full off-season to prepare without blurred vision could be beneficial for Rosario.