Fernando Romero 2016

[Bob Sacamento]

Fernando Romero

6'0

226lbs

RHP

12/24/1994

San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic

 

Romero was showing great promise 2014 before blowing out his elbow in Cedar Rapids after just 3 starts. After so Fernando missed all of 2015 with Tommy John surgery as well as knee surgery that he was needed during rehab.  Fernando is very gregarious, a life of the party type guy that his teammates love having around.

 

 Romero started throwing over the winter and was near full strength when camp broke for the start of this season.  His fastball was as high as 98 mph in spring training yet stayed in Extended Spring Training to work on his overall arm strength and pitch count.  I saw a few of his starts and he sat regularly at 95-97 mph with his fastball while his slider was nasty at 88-90 mph and he even throw a few good changeups around 78-83 mph.  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaPQ5AbVKvg

[Bob Sacamento]

In Fernando's first two starts for the Kernels, he's been nothing short of spectacular.  

 

In his first start he was limited to 63 pitches which was where he was at in EXST.  That got in thru 5 perfect innings, giving up no hits, no walks, and striking out four.  Of those 63 pitches, he threw 43 for strikes.

 

In his second start, he was bumped up slightly to 71 which still got him thru five innings and facing 20 batters.  He was a little less perfect giving up two hits (singles), 1 earned run, walked two, hit a batter, and struck out five.  He induced 8 groundballs and 2 flyouts. 

 

So far so good for Fernando, he might see time back in Fort Myers this season this time as a Miracle.

[Bob Sacamento]

In his third start, Fernando was up to 82 pitches, going 6 innings, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out five.  Rest of his line included 52 strikes, giving up 2 doubles, 5 groundouts, 5 flyouts and in total faced 23 batters.

 

From what I heard, his high was 97 mph but was around 93 overall and threw harder in the first inning and waned the deeper he went.

[Bob Sacamento]

Romero was called up to Fort Myers for his debut on 6/22.

 

In five innings, five hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk and struck out five in 74 pitches of which 49 were strikes.  His GB:FB was 7:3 and he did allow 2 stolen bases and one extrabase hit (a double). His game score was a 57.

 

In his second start on 6/29:

 

In seven innings, he gave up four hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walk, and struck out 5 in 82 pitches of which 55 were strikes.  His GB:FB was 10:2 and he did hit a batter, had a wild pitch, a balk and he gave up two extrabase hits (a double and a triple.  His game score was a 73.

 

So far in High A his GB:FB ratio is an impressive 17:5!  Keep it up Fernando!!

[Bob Sacamento]

In his third start in Hi A Fort Myers on 7/4:

In six innings, he gave up 5 hits, 1 earned runs, 3 walk, and struck out 7 in 92 pitches of which 59 were strikes.  His GB:FB was 6:2 and he did give up an extrabase hit (a triple).  His game score was a 64.

 

In Fort Myers, his GB:FB ratio is now at 23:7, add in his mid to high 90's fastball and a hard biting slider and Romero is looking solid this year and exceeding many expectations set out for him this season!  Definitely a guy to keep your eye on in the future, worse case has the makings of a solid backend bullpen arm.

[Bob Sacamento]

Romero continues to show his brilliance in his comeback season.  In his last start on Friday 8/12, he went 7 IP, giving up 6 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 11 strikeouts.  Throwing 97 pitches of which 71 were strikes, he also had 5:2 GB:FB.  His fastball is up to 97 mph, but sits usually a couple mph lower.  His slider is a strikeout pitch with wipeout movement.

 

For the High A season Fernando has 9 starts, going 49 IP, giving up 43 H, 13 ER, 1 HR, 8 BB, 48 K 2.39ERA/1.04WHIP/.234BAA.  Those numbers would likely be even better if it weren't for rain-shortened outings.

[nytwinsfan]

 

Romero continues to show his brilliance in his comeback season.  In his last start on Friday 8/12, he went 7 IP, giving up 6 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 11 strikeouts.  Throwing 97 pitches of which 71 were strikes, he also had 5:2 GB:FB.  His fastball is up to 97 mph, but sits usually a couple mph lower.  His slider is a strikeout pitch with wipeout movement.

 

For the High A season Fernando has 9 starts, going 49 IP, giving up 43 H, 13 ER, 1 HR, 8 BB, 48 K 2.39ERA/1.04WHIP/.234BAA.  Those numbers would likely be even better if it weren't for rain-shortened outings.

Is he really 6 foot, 215 pounds? His control seems exceptional.

[Vanimal46]

I love your prospect threads, Bob! It's very interesting to see videos of the prospects pitching or hitting. Romero certainly looks like a guy to keep an eye on next season, as he'll most likely start 2017 in AA. 

[Bob Sacamento]

 

I love your prospect threads, Bob! It's very interesting to see videos of the prospects pitching or hitting. Romero certainly looks like a guy to keep an eye on next season, as he'll most likely start 2017 in AA. 

My favorite part is that I sat with Fernando on the bench the entire 2015 year, there wasn't a day I was there where he didn't seek me out to say hi (he actually screams out my real name Dr. Jon) and try to get me to speak Spanish.  I actually didn't realize who he was (other than just a rehabber) til almost the end of 2015 Instructs.  With him back at Ft. Myers, we've met up a few times at the GCL games too as he's close with a few of the younger players.

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Is he really 6 foot, 215 pounds? His control seems exceptional.

I wanna say he's bigger than that, maybe 6'1 (that fro of his gives him another inch or two)  225lb, he's very muscular and thick compared to some of the other pitchers and part of that has to do with spending the last year plus just rehabbing and working out.   I always keep my EXST, GCL, and Instruct Rosters that the team puts out at its Ft. Myers complex as those numbers are much more accurate than milb.com listings so I'll take a look to what they last had him at.

 

[Bob Sacamento]

On 8/25 , Romero threw his final pitch of his season before being shutdown and he made the best of it posting a game score of 87 throwing 87 pitches, 80 being strikes).  In 7.0 IP, he gave up 2 H (both infield singles) 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K.  His fastball was sitting 95-97 mph with heavy sink and his slider was 87-92 mph with sharp nasty break.

 

The season could not have gone better for Fernando even though he didn't make his first affiliated start until May 20th and ended before September.  In 16 starts, he went 9-3 going 90.1 IP, giving up 66 H, 19 ER, 1 HR, 15 BB, 90 K with a 1.89 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, .204 BAA.  Time to give him the Twins MiLB pitcher of the year award and Comeback Player of the Year award.

[Mike Sixel]

Great updates, thanks!

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Is he really 6 foot, 215 pounds? His control seems exceptional.

According to the newly released Instructional Roster, he's 6'0 and 233lbs

[nytwinsfan]

Wow . . . that's big.

According to the newly released Instructional Roster, he's 6'0 and 233lbs

 

[big dog]

I saw him pitch at Beloit when he was with Cedar Rapids.  We sat right in front of a couple of Beloit pitchers behind home plate, one charting pitches and one with the radar gun.  They were really impressed with his stuff- they occasionally muttered "filthy"  "nasty" etc after particularly good pitches.  At one point, one of them said something like "94 slider- holy crap".  He was phenomenal that game.

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Wow . . . that's big.

He's the heaviest player on the Instructional roster besides Johan Quesada who sits at 239 lbs but then again he's also 6'9, a full 9 inches taller than Romero.

[Shane Wahl]

Another great thread.

 

2016 Summary

 

After 28 innings in Cedar Rapids, Romero quickly moved up to Fort Myers.

 

62.1 A+ innings, 1.88 ERA, 65 strikeouts, 10 walks (9.4/1.4), 0.930 WHIP, and only one homer allowed.

 

Romero bounced back and then some in 2016, and is big that he was able to get 90 innings in.

 

 

2017 Outlook

 

Romero should be getting about 125 AA innings and a trip to the Arizona Fall League next year. He has a very good fastball, has a very good hard slider, pounds the zone, and induces weak contact. Read that sentence a few times. He turns 22 on Christmas Eve.