Olmo Rosario

Olmo O. Rosario Perez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 185 lb.

• Born August 24, 1980 in Haina Dominican Republic

BR Minors page

Olmo Rosario reached AA in the minors.

Rosario was signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2001. He hit .315 with 7 homers for the DSL Devil Rays that year. In 2002, Olmo struggled with the Princeton Devil Rays (.200/.268/.339 in 33 G) and the Hudson Valley Renegades (.216/.295/.216 in 13 G). During 2004, Rosario hit .258/.286/.373 with the Rockford Riverhawks.

Rosario produced at a .373/.421/.561 rate in 2005 with 69 runs in 81 games and 11 steals in 14 games while fielding .929 at shortstop for Rockford. He was second in the Frontier League in average, .007 behind leader Jose Rodriguez. He lost out All-Star honors at shortstop, which went to Rodriguez.

He hit .330/.376/.467 in 19 games for the 2006 San Angelo Colts. In 2007, he batted .362/.406/.550 with 25 doubles and 25 steals (in 37 tries) while fielding .950 at short for the Nashua Pride. In the finals, he hit a 2-run homer in the last game to give Nashua the title. He was second in the Canadian-American Association in average, just two points behind leader Sandy Madera. He was named the All-Star shortstop and the Association's Player of the Year.

Rosario's fine performance in the independent leagues earned him a second ticket to Organized Baseball as the San Francisco Giants signed him for 2008. They assigned him to the Connecticut Defenders, for whom he hit .298/.333/.469 with 31 doubles and 13 steals in 18 tries. He split his time between second base, shortstop and left field. He was third among Connecticut players with 100+ AB in average, trailing only Pablo Sandoval and Eddy Martinez-Esteve, led the team in doubles and was second with 58 runs. He just missed the Eastern League's top 10 in average and he tied for 8th in the EL in doubles.

Despite a productive year, Rosario did not return to the Giants chain for 2009. In 2010, he signed with Sicily's Catania Warriors Paternò. He debuted as the #3 hitter and shortstop on Opening Day and went 2 for 4 against Kris Wilson and 3 relievers in a 7-1 loss. He hit .318/.373/.519 with 13 doubles, 6 home runs, 29 runs and 28 RBI in 42 games in his first season in Europe. He fielded .934 at short. He tied Juan Carlos Infante and Lorenzo Avagnina for 6th in the Italian Baseball League in RBI, tied for 8th in runs, tied for 7th in hits (49), tied Joe Mazzuca for third in doubles, tied Carlos Villalobos and Carlos Duran for the home run lead and was 12th in OPS.

For the 2011 season, he moved to Nettuno and hit .300/.349/.453 with 17 doubles, 32 runs, 33 RBI and 16 steals in 21 tries (he had only two steals in 2010). He finished among the Italian Baseball League leaders in steals (2nd behind Anthony Granato), doubles (1st), runs (tied for 6th with Josh Phelps, Jairo Ramos Gizzi and Stefano De Simoni) and RBI (tied for 4th with Mario Chiarini). He started the 2011 Italian Series well (6 for 21, HR, 4 R, 6 RBI) as Nettuno took a 3 game to 2 lead over San Marino. He was then suspended by the Italian national anti-doping tribunal due to a positive test for 4-Metil-2-Esanamina from a sample taken following an August 20 game.