In a season of lows for the player who was the Toronto Blue Jays‘ ace just a year ago, Ricky Romero set something of a new one last night, walking eight batters in a start for the first time in his career during a 3-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Eight walks. Five innings pitched. Zero strikeouts. Two bases-loaded walks combined with seven hits allowed. Not quite as bad as his 1.1 IP start against Oakland just about a month ago, but it’s a borderline miracle that Romero escaped last night with just five runs allowed, and the Blue Jays actually had a shot at the comeback. The lefty’s 87 walks is the most he’s ever posted in a MLB season and his spiking BB/9 is now up to 5.05 on the season, driving his K/BB down (1.20) dangerously close to Kyle Drabek (1.00) territory and taking sole possession of second last among all qualifying MLB starters.
After the game, Romero didn’t mince words about his performance on the night – and on the season, in general:
Romero: “I’m the one that lost the game … It’s been a nightmare of a year. It sucks.”
— John Lott (@LottOnBaseball) August 22, 2012
The Blue Jays have been looking for answers to turn Romero’s season around, and at this point they appear to be at a loss for what to do, other than to have Romero keep plugging away at a lost season. With rosters set to expand in September, there’s no reason for a minor league demotion (not to mention that sending him to a hitter’s haven in Las Vegas isn’t likely to help things). There’s also nothing physically wrong with the lefty, so shutting him down would also serve little purpose. Romero has certainly been the victim of some bad luck on his 10-game losing streak (three outings with less than 3ER mixed in there), but it’s getting awfully tough to find positives in yet another month where the 27-year old has walked more batters than he’s struck out.
So what’s next? Well, the positive (if there is any) is that Romero won’t be the first good pitcher to have a poor season. The regression from his 2011 surface numbers have hit harder than expected, and at this point, his control – while not what you’d call excellent – is so uncharacteristically bad in ’12 that it’s almost reasonable to assume or hope that it’ll level off to career-norms next season after what I imagine to be a mentally exhausting season of trying to prevent a train wreck each and every time out on the mound.
It’s a cliche, I know, but it’s important to note that Romero will be headed into his age-28 season in 2013, so while he’s had four full years of MLB experience, this is a pitcher who is still in his prime and who had shown improvements over his first three years before hitting a roadblock. Even if Romero might never be as good as his 2012 ERA indicates, I think there should be some benefit of the doubt that his performance this year is more a temporary snag rather than an indicator of a long-term downtrend.
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