New York Mets: Amed Rosario has been one of the league’s best in the clutch

Amed Rosario has received his fair share of criticism, but he’s surprisingly been one of the best high-leverage hitters in the Majors this season.

Despite the splashy offseason and optimistic start to the year, the New York Mets have come back down to Earth and have been straddling .500 ever since the calendar turned to May.

Pitching, which was supposed to be the strength of this New York ball club, has derailed the season so far. Yet, despite the overall regression of the pitching staff, the Mets have seen a significant improvement on offense from last year.

Players like Jeff McNeil, and Michael Conforto, and rookie sensation Pete Alonso, have all been key factors in the New York Mets increased production at the plate. Yet, there’s one other player who’s been just as vital to the Amazins’ new-found offense. And he has yet to get the respect he so rightfully deserves this season.

Amed Rosario, of all players, has actually been New York’s most important hitter through the quarter-mark of the season. It’s hard to believe, right? After all, the 23-year-old shortstop has yet to live up to his top-prospect billing in the eyes of the New York media and has been constantly criticized throughout his short professional career.

Despite his struggles, though, Rosario is quietly putting together an impressive year at the plate, but what’s made his 2019 season truly special so far is his ability to produce in the clutch.

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Tuesday night’s walk-off infield hit against the Washington Nationals wasn’t an outlier for the 23-year-old shortstop. In fact, he’s been head and shoulders above his teammates and, surprisingly, most of the Major Leagues when the pressure falls squarely on his shoulders.

Through Tuesday’s action, Rosario is slashing an impressive .341/.370/.523* across 46* plate appearances when the Mets have runners in scoring position. By comparison, the average Major Leaguer’s slash line is just .254/.343/.430 when batting with an RBI opportunity.

What’s more encouraging, though, is that he’s seemingly found a way to temper his nerves when he steps up to the plate for a game-changing at-bat, slashing .333/.368/.500* with 12* RBI across 38* high-leverage plate appearances. Those are situations where dramatic swings in win probability are possible, according to Baseball Reference.

This is clearly a much-welcomed improvement for Rosario – especially since folding under pressure has been the norm for him over the previous two seasons – but it can be argued that those numbers only take so much into account.

Batting splits can easily be artificially inflated or deflated based on sample size, and some could argue that Rosario hasn’t had an adequate amount of plate appearances to fully validate his performance at this point in the year.

Thankfully, FanGraphs metrics can clearly illustrate just how clutch Rosario has been for the Mets this year. Through Tuesday’s action, the 23-year-old shortstop owns a 0.82** clutch rating from FanGraphs, the sixth-highest mark among all qualified hitters in the Bigs this season.

That’s clearly an incredible feat for a player of Rosario’s perceived caliber, and the fact he’s actually been better in the clutch than perennial All-Stars such as Mookie Betts (0.51**), Bryce Harper (0.32**), Christian Yelich (-0.28**), Cody Bellinger (-0.45**) and even Mike Trout (0.03**) speaks volumes as to just how vital he’s been to New York’s success.

There’s still plenty of baseball left to be played in 2019 and he could be in for a slump or two as we head into the dog days of summer, but Rosario may finally be coming into his own. As long as he can maintain his knack for timely hitting, the young shortstop could be a key factor in keeping the Mets alive in the NL East.

*Stats and splits as of May 22nd, 2019, courtesy of Baseball Reference

**Stats as of May 22nd, 2019, courtesy of FanGraphs