Rockies catching news -- prospect wins Player of the Week honors and veteran hits free agency

November 9, 8:57 PMColorado Rockies ExaminerTravis Lay

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Torrealba may not be with the Rockies in 2010. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Buried under all the Stephen Strasburg hype in this piece on MLB.com, Wilin Rosario, a young catcher in the Rockies organization, won the Player of the Week honors in the Arizona Fall League (AFL).

Strasburg was the number one overall pick in the 2009 draft and was thought to be the best prospect ever (talk about hyperbole) by some baseball pundits.

I have mentioned Rosario before in this space when Keith Law at ESPN talked about this Rockies prospect. Rosario was signed by the Rockies in 2006 at the age of 17 from the Dominican Republic. One of the many issues with the MLB Draft: teams can sign players out of the Latin countries and they are not subject to the first year player’s draft.

With the two paths these two players have taken to the 2009 AFL it is easy to see why Strasburg gets all the love and Rosario gets a paragraph. Either way it is becoming easier to see that the Rockies just might have a gem in the making at the catching position.

Rosario batted .545 last week with three home runs, four RBIs and six runs scored and the catcher swiped a bag too! Rosario is batting .303 for the Scottsdale Scorpions after he batted .266 with the Modesto Nuts this summer.

While the youngster is blazing trails a Rockies veteran catcher hit the free agent market. The Rockies decided to not pick up the option on Yorvit Torrealba’s contract for 2010. They passed on his $4 million 2010 option and reportedly offered him $4.5 million for 2010 and 2011 (according to Jon Heyman from SI via Twitter).

Chris Iannetta will get another opportunity to prove that he should be the Rockies catcher of the future. In 2009 Iannetta had just over 100 more plate appearances than Torrealba and his on-base percentage was only slightly lower (.344 to .351) while his slugging percentage was significantly higher (.460 to .380).

Rosario is only 20 and if Iannetta doesn’t prove himself in 2010 and Rosario continues to improve Iannetta might have to fend off another catching foe in 2011.
 

• Most Valuable Player
• Cy Young

• The infield
• The outfield
• The starting pitching

• Dan O'Dowd wins Executive of the Year
• Vote for the 2009 Rockies  in the "This Year in Baseball" awards