Breakout Candidates: Jordan Romano

Jordan Romano — a native Canadian pitcher born in Markham Ontario — is a 27 year old right handed bullpen arm for the Jays. After being drafted in the tenth round in 2014, Romano pitched his way to a 2019 major league debut. Despite struggling in his short MLB tenure, he showed promise, and could earn a spot in the 2020 opening day bullpen.

In the minor leagues, Romano was primarily used as a starter by the Jays, making 69 starts in his 124 total professional career appearances. After a poor 2018 in a AA-AAA split, he was primarily converted to a relief role for the 2019 season, as he was no longer viewed as a high potential starter, and just seemed to be a better fit in the bullpen for the club moving forward. Through 24 games (21 of which were relief appearances) Romano held a 5.73 ERA, with his bloated HR/9 a clear issue. As a Bison in 2018, he allowed 1.9 HR/9, which became an even more concerning 2.3 at the major league level. Walks were also a problem for Romano in 2019, but it was never a strong suit, and during his minor league time he kept it around his career average. The majors however was a different story, and not just in the walks department.

After being a solid, proven prospect in the lower parts of the majors, Romano struggled to continue on that trajectory through the higher minor league levels, and especially the majors after a significant injury that sidelined him for the entire 2015 season. Although he only got into 17 games in the majors (none of which were starts), the small sample size doesn’t need to be considered for how bad the stats were. Romano finished the year with a brutal 7.63 major league ERA alongside career worsts among all levels in H/9 at 10.0, HR/9 at 2.3, BB/9 at 5.3, and WHIP at 1.696. However, although these stats may not show it, Romano actually did show some promise.

Undoubtedly, the stats were dreadful. However, Romano was getting his first taste of the league in an incredibly weak bullpen, and few positives are going to come from that. Prior to the call up, Romano was starting to really hit his stride in a bullpen role, holding hitters to a .196 average against as the Bisons closer. During his separate major league tenures, his velocity was clearly above average (topped out at 99.1 MPH), and he was able to move his pitches, but his control was a major issue for him (as evident by his high BB/9 and HR/0). Another interesting point in Romano’s favor is that despite opposite handedness usually being of advantage to the hitter, Romano dug away at left handed batters, limiting them to a .192 average against, and a much more reasonable 1.23 HR/9. He struggled significantly against right handed hitters, but with the Jays main bullpen lefty (Tim Mayza) out the entire 2020, Romano could be poised to take the role against lefties.

Although Romano hasn’t been outstanding, he has shown potential, and could be a serviceable player to the team in 2020. He is still a very raw player, and some experience could go a long way. Many players never have the chance to break out because their teams can't give them the time and the opportunity, but to play for his native team with a generally weak bullpen, he couldn’t ask for a better chance.