Gabriel Rosa came into the 2013 season hoping to rebound from a disappointing and injury plagued 2012 year that cost him more than half of his season. Healthy again, the Reds sent the 19-year-old Rosa back to Billings to play for the Mustangs.
Rosa got his season started slowly with just four games played in the month of June. He would have one hit in three of the four games while adding a walk, double and a run over 19 plate appearances. The outfielder posted a line of .188/.313/.250 in the four games with a walk and 3 strikeouts.
July began by extending a hitting streak to two games in a 1-4 effort with a run and 2 RBI against Missoula. He would continue that hit streak for the next four games to push the streak to five games before going hitless against Missoula. He would start a 4-game hitting streak on the 7th with a walk, HR, 3 RBI and 4 runs scored in that span. He would go hitless the next two days. The next two days after that he had two hits each, including another home run and a double before cooling off the rest of the month, going just 5-34, though two hits were home runs. He would finish the month with a line of .227/.313/.398 with 7 walks and 23 strikeouts in 99 plate appearances with 17 runs and 15 RBI. His walk rate was improved from what he showed in 2012 and his strikeout rate was also down.
The August and September stretch began slowly from a hit standpoint as he went 3-31 to begin the month over his first nine games, though he did walk 5 times and homer once. Rosa would go 10-36 over his next 10 games with 9 walks, a home run, 7 runs scored and 4 RBI. He would finish out the season going 2-9 with 2 walks. He would finish up the stretch with a .197/.344/.289 line to go along with 17 walks and 20 strikeouts in 93 plate appearances. While the hits and the power output wasn’t good during the stretch, the plate discipline was very impressive during the time frame compared to where it has been previously in his career.
Season Stats
| PA | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 211 | 29 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 23 | 13 | 2 | 25 | 46 | .211 | .327 | .339 | .666 |
Overall Thoughts
Gabriel Rosa still flashes off the tools that made him a second round draft pick back in 2011. The production still hasn’t showed up on the full scale, but he took a big step forward this year in two departments. First, and most importantly, Rosa posted a well-above average walk rate. His walk rate jumped up to 11.8% this season after being at 4.5% for his career coming into the season. His strikeout rate dropped to 21.8% after being at 26.7% for his career coming into the season. As noted in the park factors articles, the Billings home park really hurt the production of the hitters compared to the rest of the league. Rosa fell into that category as he hit .258/.378/.430 on the road but just .161/.270/.241 at home.
For more player season review, you can see the entire list here.