Last year at Beloit, I spent the better part of three days watching Ian Happ and Matt Rose hit shortly after they joined the South Bend Cubs. While I loved Happ’s hands through the zone, I also loved how Matt Rose shifted his feet during his swing. Rose was only with South Bend for 14 games last year and I thought he would spend just a couple months there in 2016 before heading off to Myrtle Beach. That didn’t happen.
The first two months of Matt Rose’s 2016 season, however, did not play out as I’d envisioned. Every night, he would show up and try to help the team win and he made solid contact in most of his at-bats.