Eddie Rosario


Eddie Manuel Rosario is a Puerto Rican professional baseball left fielder for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball. He represented Puerto Rico in the 2013 and 2017 editions of the World Baseball Classic, winning a silver medal in both.
After the 2013 season, Rosario received a 50-game suspension for using a banned substance, which he served at the start of the 2014 season. The Twins promoted Rosario to the major leagues on May 4, 2015. Rosario made his major league debut on May 6, and he hit a home run in his first at-bat, on the first pitch, off of Scott Kazmir of the Oakland Athletics.

Professional career

2015

Rosario made his major league debut on May 6, 2015. Leading off the bottom of the 3rd inning, Rosario swung at the first pitch he saw from Oakland Athletics starter Scott Kazmir, and hit an opposite-field home run, becoming the 115th player in major league history to hit a home run in his first at-bat. Rosario played in 122 games for the Twins, sharing outfield duties with Torii Hunter, Aaron Hicks, and fellow prospect Byron Buxton. Despite being called up a month into the season, Rosario led all of baseball in triples with 15, and was second in outfield assists with 16, just one behind Avisail García of the Chicago White Sox. Rosario finished his rookie campaign with a.267 batting average and 13 home runs.

2016

With the retirement of Torii Hunter and the Twins' trade of Aaron Hicks, Rosario entered 2016 as the Twins' projected everyday left fielder. After a slow start and the emergence of both Robbie Grossman and Max Kepler, Rosario saw his playing time dwindle ultimately leading to his demotion to Triple-A. He was brought back up towards the end of the season, and finished the year with a.269 batting average, 10 home runs, and 32 RBI in 92 games played.

2017

In 2017, Rosario became the Twins’ everyday left fielder and emerged into one of the AL’s best hitters. On June 13 he had his first career 3 home run game going 4-5 and driving in 5 runs. Later in the season he won his first Player of the Week for the week of August 13, going.444/.484/1.000 with 4 home runs. He ranked in the top 25 for batting average, OPS, slugging, and doubles. In 151 games he batted.290 with 27 home runs and 78 RBI.

2018

On April 18, 2018, before a sold-out crowd at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in his homeland Puerto Rico, Rosario scored the winning run in the bottom of the 16th inning, coming around on Ryan LaMarre’s single that gave Minnesota a 2-1 win over the Cleveland Indians. Rosario had a 3 home run game for the second time in his career on June 3 against the Cleveland Indians, going 3-5 driving in 4 runs while hitting the game winning walk-off home run. He finished the season with the lowest fielding percentage among major league left fielders, at.967, and batted.288 with 24 home runs, 77 RBI, and a career high 161 hits in 138 games. Rosario was considered an All-Star "snub" in 2018.

2019

In 2019 he batted.276/.300/.500. He swung at the highest percentage of all pitches of all American League batters.

International career

World Baseball Classic (Puerto Rico)

Eddie Rosario played for Puerto Rico in their silver medal run of the 2013 World Baseball Classic and their silver medal run of the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He played right field defensively and batted 7th in the lineup.

Personal life

His parents are Eddie Sr. and Maria. He is married to Milany, with whom he has three children: Mileiddy, Raydieliz, and Lucas.