Bobby Rose (baseball)
Robert Richard "Bobby" Rose (born March 15, 1967) is an American former professional baseball player and current hitting coach for the Frederick Keys. He played on the California Angels in the Major League Baseball (MLB), and on the Yokohama BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
| Bobby Rose | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Second baseman | |||
| Born: March 15, 1967 Covina, California | |||
| |||
| Professional debut | |||
| MLB: August 12, 1989, for the California Angels | |||
| NPB: April 10, 1993, for the Yokohama BayStars | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| MLB: May 19, 1992, for the California Angels | |||
| NPB: 9 October, 2000, for the Yokohama BayStars | |||
| MLB statistics (through 1992) | |||
| Batting average | .245 | ||
| Hits | 49 | ||
| Home runs | 5 | ||
| Runs batted in | 23 | ||
| NPB statistics (through 2000) | |||
| Batting average | .325 | ||
| Hits | 1275 | ||
| Home runs | 167 | ||
| Runs batted in | 808 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
| |||
Career
Rose was graduated from San Dimas High School. Rose signed with the California Angels in 1985 and made his MLB debut in 1989. However, he only played 73 games in the MLB in four seasons. He signed with the Yokohama BayStars prior to the 1993 season.
He led the Central League in RBIs and doubles in 1993, and played in all 130 regular season games from 1993 through 1995. Rose continued his success over the next several years, showing incredible clutch hitting skills, and greatly contributed to his team's Japan Series title in 1998. He also won the Central League Gold Glove award in 1998 for second base.
He put together his best season in 1999, hitting 37 home runs with 153 RBIs and a .369 batting average. This remains the highest batting average ever in Japanese baseball among right-handed hitters, and his 153 RBIs ranks second-most in Japanese baseball history. He also led the league with 192 hits, which was the Central League single-season record until Norichika Aoki surpassed it in 2005.
He led the league in hits for the second straight season in 2000, and had the second highest batting average in the Central League, but suddenly announced his retirement in the off-season after eight seasons in NPB. The main reasons for his abrupt retirement seem to be that his family wanted to return to the United States, and the BayStars did not want to continue paying his hefty contract.
After a two-year absence from baseball, Rose signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines for the 2003 season. However, he went hitless during spring training and announced his second retirement in March before the start of the regular season.
Rose is remembered as one of the best foreign players in Japanese baseball history. He was 71 at-bats shy of passing Leron Lee for the top spot in career batting average (at least 4000 at-bats are required to qualify for the record), and hit over .300 for seven of his eight seasons in Japan. He also hit three cycles during his career (the most in Japanese baseball history).
Coaching Career
In 2018, Rose was hired to be the hitting coach for the single A Delmarva Shorebirds.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from JapaneseBaseball.com