While Miguel Sano continues to garner a lot of the attention being given to Minnesota Twins rookies, Eddie Rosario is nearing some pretty impressive territory in his own right.
Rosario, who turned 24 on Monday, hit his Major League-leading 15th triple of the season while in Detroit over the weekend and in doing so put himself in some pretty elite company.
Most recent 15+ 3B rookie seasons
2015 Eddie Rosario 15*
1991 Ray Lankford 19
1984 Juan Samuel 17
1938 Jeff Heath 18
1936 Joe DiMaggio 15— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) September 26, 2015
The triple is thought by many as the most difficult hit to achieve in all of baseball. In fact, the Pioneer Press notes that only two other players in Twins history have hit more than 15 triples in a season – Christian Guzman (20 in 2000) and Rod Carew (16 in 1977.)
Eddie Rosario has 15 triples this season. That's more than the entire Blue Jays (14) or Nationals (13) rosters.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) September 26, 2015
Making the stat more impressive, Rosario has recorded the 15 triples without being thrown out a single time.
“He’s a little bit reckless,” Twins manager Paul Molitor told the Pioneer Press. “He’s definitely fearless. He’s not afraid to try things. I’ve encouraged the aggressiveness. I’d rather back a guy down than try to make a guy get more aggressive. He’s done a lot of really good things for us.”
But it’s not just Rosario’s bat and speed that has people around the league taking notice, it’s also his defense. The young outfielder actually leads the league in outfield assists as well.
Interesting year for Twins' Eddie Rosario. Has more outfield assists (16) and triples (15) than walks (14).
— Tim Cowlishaw (@TimCowlishaw) September 26, 2015
He also has tied Kirby Puckett’s 1984 franchise mark for outfield assists by a rookie and has the most by a Twins outfielder since Michael Cuddeyer recorded 19 in 2007.
