Cleveland Indians: Is Amed Rosario ready for expanded outfield role?

Is Amed Rosario ready for expanded outfield role with the Cleveland Indians?

The decision by the Cleveland Indians to send down Ben Gamel shouldn’t come as a surprise. He struggled through the first half of the season, not registering a hit in the first 10 games he played in. The curious part of the move is that the Indians called up pitcher Sam Hentges rather than an outfielder. This makes it seem like it could be a temporary move to add an arm to the pen during a long stretch. But what if it’s not? That means the Tribe are down an outfielder and someone will need to step up.

While another move could follow for the time being there’s really only two possibilities here. Jordan Luplow becomes an every day player or Amed Rosario sees an expanded role in the outfield. That’s it.

The reason for that is there are really only six players on the roster that could play the outfield, but two are taken up at other spots on the lineup card. Franmil Reyes is technically an outfielder, but he’s the designated hitter in almost every game. Jake Bauers is also listed as an outfielder, but if he’s playing he’s going to most likely be at first.  The others, being Josh Naylor and Eddie Rosario, are every day players in the outfield. That leaves really just Luplow and Amed Rosario to split the center field duties.

Which brings us to the original question, is Amed Rosario ready to an expanded role in the Cleveland Indians outfield? It’s really hard to say at this point. Playing a total of 34 innings at the position this year entering Saturday’s game, Rosario was error-free. The catch is that he’s only had five chances. That’s not much of a sample size.

The other side of the coin in this situation is that Luplow plays against left-handed pitchers, leaving the platoon partner to play against right-handed pitchers if a platoon is still the course of action. At the time of Gamel being sent down, Rosario had one hit in 14 at-bats against right-handed pitching this year. Granted it was a home run, but a .071/.235/.286 slash line against right-handed pitchers doesn’t seem like enough to put confidence in Rosario for that role and send Gamel down, even if Gamel was worse.

Now, Luplow has looked a bit better against right-handed pitchers. It’s only been four at-bats, but a double and home run isn’t too shabby. Maybe he’s the one that gets the expanded role with the Gamel move. However, with one less outfielder on the roster someone will have to step up and fill that void in terms of depth if anything.

Rosario has turned into depth both in center and at shortstop, playing almost the exact same amount of innings at both. All things considered, he has strong value on the bench. With that being said, he doesn’t seem like the fit to fill Gamel’s role. He’s better off sticking with his current role. So, what then?

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Luplow get first crack at an every day role. If it works then you open up another roster spot to use elsewhere, like keeping Hentges in the majors. If it doesn’t, it can’t be much worse than what Gamel was doing. But if it doesn’t work, then there’s a clear answer waiting in Triple-A once their season begins on May 4 and a better sample size is provided.

If a platoon is what the Tribe want in center field, then Daniel Johnson is the perfect partner for Luplow in center. If you go back to Johnson’s 2019 splits in Triple-A it becomes obvious that he is the ideal candidate, the club just needs to buy a bit more time because of his service time in the majors and keeping him on a rookie deal longer.

In 2019 against right-handed batters, Johnson slashed .311/.368/.538 in 338 at-bats with 26 doubles, six triples, 13 home runs and 55 RBI. He also drew 33 walks. In the minors, he’s played the outfield in 378 games. Of those he was in center for 148 with a .977 fielding percentage.

There’s still a lot of season left to be played, but pulling the plug on Gamel so early is an indication that the Cleveland Indians have a few options they want to try out. Gamel didn’t work, so the next step is either Luplow playing every day or Rosario taking over the platoon. No matter what happens in the short-term, I’m counting on the long-term plan for the season including Johnson.