Fernando Romero - 2014

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Fernando Ernesto Romero, RHP

Born: December 24, 1994 (19 years old)in the Dominican Republic

Height: 6'0”, Weight: 215 lbs.

 

 

Fernando Romero was signed as a16-year-old international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2011. His signed for $260,000, which was the 4^th largest bonus handed out by the Twins that year. At the time of his signing his fastball was his best pitch, sitting in the upper 80s and low90s.

 

 

In 2012 Romero made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League. His numbers were solid for a 17 year old facing a lot of more experienced competition. He pitched 31 innings with a 4.65 ERA, walked just over 4 batters per 9 innings and struck out just over 8 per 9.

 

 

Last year he moved up to the Gulf Coast League, where he anchored the pitching staff along with fellow international signee Lewis Thorpe. Romero pitched 45 innings with a 1.60 ERA, improving his walk rate to 2.6 per 9 and his strikeout rate to 9.4 per 9. Scouting reports had his fastball sitting in the low 90s and touching 95 mph on occasion. His hard curveball has also emerged as a swing-and-miss pitch with sharp break. His changeup is reportedly furthest behind but has shown good action. While we can't read too much into GCL stats, his ability has been noticed, and he placed highly on several preseason Twins prospect lists, most notably16^th on mlb.com's list and 12^th on BaseballAmerica's.

 

 

Romero seemed to be on track to continue climbing the ladder through the organization one step at a time, starting with the Elizabethtown Twins this year. However,reports yesterday indicate that he will be joining the Cedar RapidsKernels. He'll get a chance to get a few more weeks of game action and will probably have the chance to finish out the season with theKernels if he pitches well.

 

 

His success will largely hinge on his ability to improve his changeup, which will be an essential pitch if he is to remain a starter. He will also need to continue improving his command and control. If he can do this he could make it as a starter in the majors, most likely a #3 but maybe even better. If he can't get his changeup working he might still end up as a dominant reliever, so he should be fun to watch over the following years.

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Romero made his first start for the Kernels tonight and pitched a very solid game. He went 5 innings, and needed only 74 pitches to get through it. He gave up 2 runs on 7 hits (1 homerun) and a walk, leaving the game in a tie. He struck out 6 along the way.

 

He was quite economical, throwing more than 2/3rds of his pitches for strikes and striking out over a batter per inning.

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Romero made his second start last night, and while he only gave up 1 run in 4 IP, he had a bit tougher time of it than he did in his first appearance.

 

Romero got into trouble giving up a run on three straight singles in the second inning. One wild pitch and a walk later the bases were loaded with nobody out. However, he showed some poise getting out of the jam with a 1-2-3 double play and a strikeout to end the inning and limit the damage.

 

Overall he gave up 5 hits and two walks and only managed the 1 strikeout. Reports had him throwing from 91-96 mph with his fastball last night. Pitching coach Luis Artega, quoted in SD Buhr's article from earlier this week, put his velocity even higher, at 94-99 mph. Either way it sounds like he's added a couple more mph from where he was at the end of last season, and it seems reasonable to think that he'll be able to work in the mid 90's consistently as he continues to develop. That's an exciting arm to watch.