Carlos Rojas, infielder

Will he be playing in 2013?

I don’t know. Rojas continued to be a great-field, no-hit infielder who can play second, short, or third very well. Perhaps Baseball America put it best when it commented on the Orioles’ trading Rojas to reacquire J.C. Romero:

Veteran minor league utility infielder Carlos Rojas can field the shortstop position, but the 28-year-old’s .537 career OPS at the Triple-A level says a lot about his offensive upside.

Whether he plays in 2013 will depend on whether an organization needs a defense-only middle infielder.

Rojas was one of the fifteen Tides to earn a save in 2012. How cool is that?

Rojas did earn as save in 2012; he was used three times as a desperation pitcher, going a total of four innings with a 4.50 ERA. Rojas wasn’t used to save arms in blowouts; he was used because the Tides didn’t have any other pitchers rested and available. Rojas was also charged with a loss when he gave up a home run in a late extra-inning. I don’t remember another instance of a position player earning a save; wins and losses are more common.

Rojas came up with the Chicago Cubs, which apparently has an organizational philosophy of converting non-hitting position players to pitchers if they have good arms; Carlos Marmol, Randy Wells, and Rafael Dolis are beneficiaries of that philosophy. I have no doubt that had Rojas stayed with the Cubs’ organization, they’d have converted him to a pitcher and he’d have a much better shot at a big-league career. In fact, some team may persuade him that it’s in his interest to convert to a pitcher; that’d be another way he’d play in 2013.