The Braves have signed outfielder Eddie Rosario to a minor league contract, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports (X link). Rosario will report to Triple-A Gwinnett to begin his latest stint with the organization. The Braves also announced a set of other transactions, including the news that outfielder Eli White’s contract has been selected to the big league roster. Forrest Wall was optioned to Triple-A to make room for White on the 26-man roster, while left-hander Ray Kerr was moved to the 60-man to create a 40-man roster spot.
It didn’t take long for Rosario to catch on with a familiar landing spot, as his release from the Nationals was made official just yesterday. Washington designated Rosario for assignment on Monday and then officially parted ways with the veteran after nobody claimed him (or the roughly $950K in salary still owed to him this season) on waivers. Assuming Rosario is called up to Atlanta’s active roster, the Braves will owe him just the prorated portion of a Major League minimum salary, and that total will be subtracted from the $950K or so that will be covered by the Nats.
As per the terms of the minor league deal Rosario signed with the Nationals during the offseason, he was guaranteed a $2MM base salary upon having that contract selected to their active roster, and there was no suspense about the decision since the Nats had him in their Opening Day lineup. However, there weren’t many highlights of Rosario’s three months in the District, as he hit only .183/.226/.329 with seven home runs over 235 plate appearances. Even with the Nats largely shielding Rosario from left-handed pitching, his .182/.222/.349 slash line against righties served to crater his production.
Though Washington has stuck around in the wild card race, it was widely expected going into the season that Rosario was a veteran trade chip that the Nationals would look at flip by the deadline. Unfortunately, Rosario’s subpar production led the team to just release him with no return, and he’ll now return to Atlanta looking for a repeat of his magical 2021 season.
Rosario was also struggling through a rough 2021 campaign with Cleveland before the Braves picked him up at the trade deadline, and the rest became Atlanta baseball history. Rosario hit .271/.330/.573 with seven homers in 106 PA over the rest of the regular season just to help the Braves into the playoffs, and the hot hitting continued into October as Rosario captured NLCS MVP honors en route to helping the team win the World Series.
The Braves then re-signed Rosario to a two-year, $18MM free agent deal that contained a $9MM club option for 2024, but Atlanta declined that option last fall after Rosario couldn’t keep the momentum going. He battled vision problems during a miserable 2022 campaign, then rebounded for roughly league-average production (.255/.305/.455 with 21 homers in 516 PA) last year but the Braves still opted to pass on retaining Rosario’s services for another season. With these decent numbers coming just last year, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Rosario experience at least some kind of a revival in Atlanta, even if a repeat of 2021 is a lot to ask.
In another odd echo of 2021, Rosario has again been acquired in the aftermath of a season-ending torn ACL from Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. Michael Harris II is also on the injured list recovering from a hamstring strain and recent acquisition Ramon Laureano has also been battling a back problem for the last week, leaving the Braves even more short-handed in the outfield. Assuming that Rosario won’t be in Gwinnett for too long, he can become a left-handed hitting complement to the righty-swinging White and Luke Williams, as Jarred Kelenic continues everyday duty in center field and Adam Duvall in right field. With Harris not expected back until after the All-Star break at the earliest, the Braves will try to make do with this group until Harris returns, or unless other reinforcements are brought in via trades or signings.
White is now in line for his first bit of MLB action this season, and his first since the Braves optioned him down to Triple-A in April 2023. White has appeared in each of the last four Major League campaigns, and all but six of his 136 career games in the Show came with the Rangers from 2020-22. He has batted just .181/.259/.288 in 406 career PA in the bigs, but White has been much better at Triple-A, including a .294/.402/.462 slash line for Gwinnett over 234 PA this season.
White’s brief career has unfortunately been defined by injuries, as his last three seasons have all been ended early by surgeries. After an elbow surgery in 2021 and a wrist surgery in 2022, White suffered a tore labrum in his left shoulder almost exactly one year ago, which led to yet another procedure and another abbreviated season for the outfielder. White’s all-fields defense and quality baserunning makes him a useful player for the outfield-needy Braves to have in at least a bench role, and his Triple-A numbers suggest that he could still have some late-bloomer potential at age 30.
It was announced two weeks ago that Kerr would be undergoing Tommy John surgery, so it was just a matter of time before the Braves moved him to the 60-day IL when a 40-man spot was needed. Kerr had a 5.64 ERA in 22 1/3 innings for Atlanta this season, and the timing of his surgery could mean that he might miss the entire 2025 season.