Manager Kanemoto: “He’s lost sight of everything”
Interleague: Hanshin 10, Seibu 5 (June 2, 2018 – Met Life Dome)
Tigers’ manager Tomoaki Kanemoto has finally made a major decision. As of June 2, Wilin Rosario (29) has been demoted to the second squad. The decision came in a coaches’ meeting following the team’s second game against Seibu.
Earlier that day, Kanemoto had benched Rosario for the first time in 49 games since opening day. With Seibu starting righty Tawata, whose slider breaks hard to the side, Kanemoto saw Rosario at a distinct disadvantage. “I didn’t think he stood a chance against today’s pitcher,” he said. Instead, Kanemoto pinch-hit Hayata Itoh with runners in scoring position in the fifth, keeping him in center field and shifting Masahiro Nakatani to first; and in the sixth, right-hander Noriharu Yamazaki pinch-hit for Itoh and remained at first. Rosario, however, was not seen for the entire game. Ironically, the bats came alive, reaching season highs in hits (15) and runs scored (10).
Although Rosario closed out April with a .275 batting average, opposing pitchers soon found his weak point and exploited it relentlessly. The game on May 12 against Hiroshima saw him batting fifth for the first time this season, and by May 27 he had been dropped to seventh against the Giants. No longer the centerpiece of the Tigers’ lineup, he was even replaced by pinch-hitter Takashi Toritani late in the game on May 26. His average quickly dropped to .230 as he consistently failed to make contact with breaking balls low and outside. After striking out twice in his first two at-bats in the first game of the Seibu series, Kanemoto had finally reached his limit, and replaced Rosario with a pinch hitter once again. With Rosario unable even to advance runners or hit the occasional sacrifice fly, he had “lost sight of everything,” according to Kanemoto. There was simply no choice but to demote Rosario to the second squad and have him work out his issues there.
Rosario had put up impressive numbers with the Korean Baseball Organization, batting over .300 with 30+ home runs and 100+ RBIs in two consecutive seasons. Hanshin acquired him for an annual salary of 340 million yen, the highest the team has ever paid for a new import. With Rosario slugging a home run in his first at-bat against DeNA during the Okinawa camp schedule in February, expectations were very high. However, his power has all but disappeared during regular-season play, and he has only managed four home runs so far this season.
Translated by Jake Dunlap