The former 10th rounder with only 1 career AAA start hasn’t been getting a ton of hype heading into the Rule 5 Draft nationally, but his profile suggests he should be. Romano had a sub-4 FIP in his time in AA, including a 21.9% K%.
With Romano’s lack of a consistent 3rd pitch and lack of experience above AA, he could be a candidate to move to the bullpen and see huge benefits, even being able to play right away in the MLB. 2080 Baseball grades both his fastball and slider as above average, and also believes his control is acceptable. Romano is one of the more interesting prospects just because he fits as a reliever, but nobody has ever seen him as a reliever, so it’s not certain that he’s even selected at all.
Schrock had the worst offensive season of his professional career in 2018 as he spent the entire season in AAA, but he is still viewed as a prospect who could take on a starting role some day. After being dealt to St. Louis in the Stephen Piscotty trade of the last offseason, Schrock saw another slight drop in GB%, but his power numbers got no better. It seems unlikely that he will ever develop into what scouts saw as possible double-digit home run raw power, but either way, his ability to make contact is matched by only a few. Part of the reason for his poor production was a low BABIP that should not follow him into 2019. He could end up sliding a bit in the Rule 5 Draft considering his lack of defensive versatility, but I’d be surprised if nobody was enticed enough by his low K% enough to take the bait.
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