Esmerling De La Rosa’s 2018 Miami Marlins Season Review

Esmerling De La Rosa was the one of the longest tenured players in the Miami Marlins system.

Throughout the 2018/2019 offseason, Marlin Maniac will devote one article each for every player who appeared in the Miami Marlins system for the 2018 season. Every. Single. Player. This is Part 188 of 286. For the first 100, click here.

Esmerling De La Rosa is a 6’2″, 199 lb. right-handed pitcher from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Born on May 15th, 1991, he signed through international free agency with the Miami Marlins on May 27th, 2010.

The Dominican Summer League is normally stocked full of 16 and 17 year-old players, with a smattering of 18-year-olds for balance. At 19, De La Rosa was one of the older prospects on the 2010 squad. He struck out 11 in 12 1/3 innings, but walked 10 and allowed eight hits in his first look, hitting two batters and throwing two wild pitches in a small sample as DSL completed the season with a 28-41 record.

De La Rosa ranked fifth on the 2011 DSL squad with 41 strikeouts and 43 2/3 innings pitched. He was 2-5 with a 3.92 ERA and a 1.397 WHIP for the 24-43 team.

For the next two seasons, De La Rosa slung for the Florida-based, rookie-level GCL Marlins, in the Gulf Coast League. By this time getting used exclusively as a reliever, he played in 27 games and went 2-4 with 39 K’s in 33 2/3 innings. That includes a career-best 10.9 K/9 in 17 1/3 innings in 2013.

In 2014, De La Rosa spent his entire season at the single-A level with the Greensboro Grasshoppers in the South Atlantic League. Over 51 1/3 innings, he posted a 2.28 ERA and 1.305 WHIP, with 55 strikeouts and a 5-2 record in a team-second 32 appearances. The club was tremendous, finishing the season with an 87-53 overall record.

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De La Rosa spent the majority of his 2015 campaign with the high-A Jupiter Hammerheads in the Florida State League. Although he didn’t start in any of his 33 appearances through the season, he averaged a nick under two innings per game, playing 65 1/3 with 55 K’s against only 16 walks. He was 6-4 with a 2.89 ERA, and a career-best 1.026 WHIP as the Sharks went 67-73.

2016 would see De La Rosa spend another season at the high-A level in Jupiter, and play in a career- and team-high 40 games. He led the team with 13 saves, one of 13 pitchers that season to collect at least one for the 68-69 club, and posted a 3.59 ERA. De La Rosa was 3-4 with 55 whiffs in 57 2/3 innings and a 1.40 WHIP to his credit. See him below, courtesy of 2080 Baseball.

In 2017, De La Rosa split the year between the Hammerheads and the double-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, going 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 51 K’s in 48 innings. He split time between the same two Miami Marlins affiliates for a fourth straight year in 2018, going 0-4 with a 4.80 ERA. He was granted free agency on November 2nd.

De La Rosa’s free agency means that he is free to sign with any club, affiliated or otherwise. He’s currently playing for the Criollos de Caguas in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

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