Bowie's Garabez Rosa named Eastern League MVP

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

September 06, 2017, 11:17am

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After a season where he led the league in batting and RBIs, Double-A Bowie's Garabez Rosa has been named the Most Valuable Player of the Eastern League for 2017.

Rosa topped all hitters in batting average (.310), hits (162) and RBIs (91). The 162 hits are the second-highest single-season total in Orioles franchise history and the 91 RBIs are tied for seventh most all-time. He also finished second in the Eastern League in total bases (232) and tied for second in runs scored (75). He hit 14 home runs.

The 27-year-old is the third player in Baysox history to be named Eastern League MVP, following Calvin Pickering (1998) and Lou Montanez (2008).

The Cotui, Dominican Republic native had three hitting streaks of 10 games or more and hit .363 with runners in scoring position.

Rosa played six different positions (1B, 2B, 3B, LF, CF, RF) for manager Gary Kendall's club this season and is the franchise's all-time leader in games (590), hits (650), RBIs (306), runs scored (273) and doubles (107). He played his 500th game as a Baysox on May 14 versus Richmond and was selected to play in the 2017 Eastern League All-Star Game earlier this year.

The Double-A playoffs are scheduled to start tonight with Bowie hosting Altoona in Game 1 of a best-of-five series. Rosa was on Bowie's 2015 Eastern League championship team. He was the MVP of the Eastern League championship series and hit two home runs in Bowie's Game 5 win over Reading when the Baysox won the title.