Baseball in Fort Wayne

One day after Eddie Bonine made his Major League Debut with the Detroit Tigers, his 2004 Wizards teammate became the 66th. Leo Rosales was called up by the Arizona Diamondbacks from their Triple-A club, the Tucson Sidewinders, to provide some additional bullpen relief. They wasted little time in getting his feet wet.

In his debut, Rosales faced eleven hitters, but he was roughed up for four hits and an earned run over an inning and two-thirds. He threw 43 pitches, with 27 of them going for strikes.

Rosales appeared in 28 games for the Sidewinders, all of them in relief. He was 2-1 with a 4.08 ERA over 35 1/3 innings and was 9-for-9 in save opportunities. He may be with the club for a while or he could be used simply as an innings-eater for the next few games.

The 27-year-old right-hander came to the Diamondbacks‘ organizations last July in a trade with the Padres that sent Scott Hairston to San Diego. Rosales was described as having the best changeup in the Friar’s farm system at the time, so it’s a bit surprising that they would let him go knowing how valued that pitch is within the organization.

With the Wizards in 2004, Rosales went 6-1 with a 1.40 earned run average. He struck out 66 batters over 57.2 innings in 53 games and walked just 16 while racking up 26 saves.

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