FORT MYERS, Fla. — A 9-year-old boy from Alabama sat in the stands at Fenway Park on a warm July evening in 2011 watching his favorite player reach base five times. Dustin Pedroia tripled, doubled, walked and singled twice in a 13-9 Red Sox victory over the Royals.
“He was a homer shy of the cycle,” Caden Rose told MassLive at Boston’s Fall Performance Program at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers in September. “He ended up flying out to the track right at the Monster for his last at-bat. It was a great time. I remember it like it was yesterday.”
The Red Sox drafted Rose in the seventh round in June out of the University of Alabama. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound outfielder was unable to recall the exact date when his dad took him on an approximately 1,200-mile trip to Fenway Park but an examination of Pedroia’s game logs show that the 2008 AL MVP just missed the cycle with a deep flyout to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning July 26, 2011.
“It kind of just happened. We just decided we were going to go to a Red Sox game,” Rose said. “Obviously we had heard about how special Fenway Park is and how cool of an atmosphere it was. So we just wanted to go see it.”
It was a special baseball trip for Rose who has attended a major league game in only one other city (Atlanta). He said he was a Pedroia fan long before seeing him just miss hitting for the cycle.
“His mentality that he brought to the game is how I feel like I play the game,” Rose said. “It’s funny, my last name being Rose, people would always tell me I play a little like Pete Rose. I mean, the headfirst diving all the time. I just play the game hard. And that’s what you’re going to see out of me.”
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Rose didn’t appear in any minor league games this summer after being drafted and then signing with the Red Sox because he was rehabbing both shoulder and hamstring injuries at the JetBlue Park complex. He played through the injuries his final season at Alabama and still slashed .261/.383/.503/.886 with nine homers, 10 doubles, 45 runs, 26 RBIs, 26 walks, 40 strikeouts and nine stolen bases in 186 plate appearances (48 games).
“Obviously you come in right after you get drafted and you want to play and showcase your abilities,” Rose said. “But that’s something I just wasn’t in the spot to do when I got drafted. I dealt with some injuries this year that I played on throughout the season and kind of just made them worse. So the best thing for me and my future was to come down here and rehab. And that’s what I’ve done. I’m fired up to get back out there next year.”
Rose, who just turned 22 on Oct. 7, said his approach at the plate changes from at-bat to at-bat depending on the pitcher and situation.
“But I’m really going up there trying to impact the baseball,” Rose said. “I know if I hit the ball hard I’m going to have a chance to be successful. And with me being able to run like I can, that helps me impact the game in a lot of ways, too. You’ve got to play me up or I’ll lay a bunt down. If you are playing up, I’ll sneak it through the holes. And don’t get me wrong, I can hit the long ball, too.”
His SoxProspects.com scouting report notes that he has “sneaky pop for his size” and “above-average speed.”
He also has another important baseball tool: a slump-ending mustache.
“Our team at Alabama at the beginning of the year, we went mullets and mustaches,” he said. “And I was having a pretty good start to the year and then I ended up shaving the mustache and went through a big-time scuffle. Brought the mustache back and went crazy. I was playing really good. So now it’s kind of one of those things, when I feel like I need it, when I feel like I need some knocks, I’ll bring the mustache back out.”
Caden Rose playing for Alabama in a super regional game against Wake Forest on June 10, 2023, in Winston-Salem, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)AP
Rose was named an Alabama high school baseball all-state first teamer three times but he went undrafted out of high school. He missed the final 11 games his junior year in 2019 after lacerating his spleen.
“I had stitches in my right hand and I was throwing left-handed BP,” he said. “Didn’t get behind the L-screen and took a line drive right to the spleen. That was rough. I was having a really good year. I really feel like the draft would have been more of a possibility out of high school had that not have happened. I finished that year runner-up in Mr. Baseball voting. And the person in front of me was Gunnar Henderson, who is probably going to win (AL) Rookie of the Year this year.”
Rose said Jordan Beck also was the other runner-up for Alabama’s Mr. Baseball in 2019. The Red Sox actually drafted Beck in the 14th round out of Hazel Green High in Hazel Green, Ala. in 2019. But Beck kept his college commitment to Tennessee. He was a Rockies’ 2022 first round pick (38th overall) out of Tennessee.
Rose also was a talented high school football player. He played quarterback and free safety at Bob Jones High in Madison, Ala., where his dad Kevin Rose served as the head football coach. Kevin now coaches at a private school in Huntsville, Ala.
Rose, a three-star quarterback, received a football offer from the University of Nebraska.
“It’s tough to get the big-time Power Five offers when you’re a 5-foot-10 quarterback,” Rose said. “So I knew my goal was to be a professional athlete. And I thought going to Alabama and playing baseball was my best shot to do that.”
Rose enjoyed attending football games at Bryant–Denny Stadium while a student at Alabama.
“It’s unreal. Everything you think of, it’s that and more,” Rose said. “It’s great. I grew up all around football.”
Other stories from the Red Sox’s Fall Performance Program:
‘Muscular’ Red Sox C prospect has ‘5 hole’ power, cool reason for catching
New Red Sox OF prospect beat cancer, cousin ‘saved’ his life with tackle
Top Red Sox prospect with ‘best’ fastball (98 mph) studies Justin Verlander
Red Sox prospect up to 97 mph ‘motivated’ by mentor Brayan Bello, ex-roomie
Red Sox power-hitting C prospect read Ted Williams’ book ‘a million times’
Red Sox’ Nate Eovaldi comp pick went ‘straight to’ mall after being drafted
