Romo made his highly anticipated debut, but will he be the answer behind the plate?
You’re reading the 2024 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at the season had by every player to play for the Rockies in 2024. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the least amount of rWAR and end up with the player with the most.
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No. 30, Drew Romo, -0.1 rWAR
The Colorado Rockies have had trouble filling the catching position. Sure, they have had some notable names and faces behind the dish, but the team has never truly found a homegrown player who blossomed into a franchise icon like players at other positions. Chris Iannetta fills the spot in the organization’s annals of history, but a true franchise catcher has still eluded the team.
That’s why there has been so much hope for 23-year-old Drew Romo.
Drafted by the Rockies 35th overall in 2020 out of high school, Romo came with the pedigree and reputation as a solid defender behind the plate. Through his first couple of seasons in the farm system, he has made steady improvements defensively while also working on consistently at the plate as a switch-hitter.
He spent the majority of the year in Triple-A with the Albuquerque Isotopes. Platooning with Willie MacIver, Romo turned in one of the best years of his minor league career at the plate. In 85 games with the Isotopes, Romo slashed .297/.339/.499 with a career-high 14 home runs and 60 RBI. He had 102 hits on the year, including 19 doubles and four triples, while striking out 66 times to just 16 walks. Despite the stigma of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, Romo proved he had the chops to become a valuable offensive catcher along with his defensive skills behind the dish.
His efforts in Albuquerque earned him a promotion to the big league squad on August 16 after the team released Elias Díaz. Amid a lost season, the Rockies saw a perfect opportunity to get an up close and personal look at Romo and work with him to get his feet wet. However, his playing time was rather inconsistent through the season’s final stretch.
Romo debuted on August 17 against the San Diego Padres going 0-for-4 with a strikeout. He split time rather evenly with Jacob Stallings through September 7 where he struggled to a .167/.205/.238 slash line in 44 plate appearances. After a 1-for-4 appearance on September 11, Romo wouldn’t appear in a game again until he entered as a pinch-hitter on September 27 as well as the 28th. He would start the final game of the season, going 1-for-3, but his future seems a mystery with the team.
Romo finished his big league stint hitting .177/.208/.235 in 51 plate appearances over 16 games. He managed three doubles and six RBI but also struck out 18 times against two walks. He certainly showed some glimpses of his hitting prowess, but the strikeouts left an obviously bad taste in the mouth of Bud Black. Romo’s playing time practically vanished partly because of Hunter Goodman’s hot streak of home runs once September started, but also because Romo still needed some work on different aspects of his game.
While the offense still needs some improvement (but that’s the case for the entire Rockies lineup, not just Romo), fans were quick to be concerned about Romo’s work behind the dish.
In 2023, Romo made a concerted effort to improve his movement behind the plate. He adopted the one-knee stance that has become more popular among catchers in professional baseball. The idea is that it helps with blocking and movement behind the plate while also keeping a catcher from crouching the entire time. He also went through a throwing program to help him improve his accuracy to get more consistent with his release, as well as putting work in so he can maintain arm strength through a full season.
In Albuquerque, Romo had a 29% caught-stealing rate and a .996 fielding percentage. In the Majors, he had a 24% caught-stealing rate, albeit a small sample size, with a .990 fielding percentage. Watching him you can tell that he has a quick movement and strong arm throwing to bases, but fans became concerned about his throws back to the plate.
Romo tended to shot put the ball back to the pitcher in an arc that folks were quick to point out as weird. Opposing teams also seemed to pick up on it and were quick to test the young catcher a few times, snagging an extra base on throws back to the pitcher. Romo dealt with some of the yips in the minors, partially leading to the type of throwing motion, but he has tried to find ways to counteract the peculiarity. He has done things like stagger his timing and coming up out of the crouch but it’s sure to be something the team continues to address.
Where Romo goes from here remains to be determined. Just 16 games into his big league career seem too early to write him off as the catcher of the future for the organization. Game planning is something he has continued to try and improve as well as gaining the confidence to work with pitchers older than him. While he may not be ready to take over the mantle of starting catcher just yet, Romo still has the chops to become the catcher of the future.
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