First things first, I want to point out that on MiLB.com and his stat pages around baseball this player is listed as Wennigton Romero. In the Cincinnati Reds Media Guide, he’s listed as Wennington Romero. I’m assuming that in the input for the MiLB.com page, there was a typo and it’s stuck as it’s where every other place is pulling their stats from.
It’s not often that we talk to much about the Dominican Summer League here. There are a few reasons for that, limited ability to get information on the players, a lot of them will never reach the US and really limited information on the players.
This season though, there’s someone to talk about. Wennington Romero, a 17-year-old left handed pitcher is out to an incredible start to his professional career with the Dominican Summer League Rojos. He’s made eight starts on the season, tossing 40.2 innings with a 1.77 ERA. While the ERA is impressive, it’s his peripherals that are even more impressive. He’s walked just four batters on the season and he has 50 strikeouts.
His last three starts have been outstanding. He’s allowed just two earned runs over 17.0 innings pitched with three walks and 24 strikeouts. It’s pushed him to second in the league in strikeouts, trailing the league leader by two.
When Romero signed with the Reds in July of 2014 he was listed at 5′ 11″ and 150 lbs. This year he’s still listed at 5′ 11″, but he’s up to 175 lbs. As expected, teenagers will begin to fill out some as they age and for Romero that has happened quite nicely in the year since he signed with the club.
Scouting Report
[private_subscriber]
Fastball | The left hander is currently throwing 87-89 MPH and touches a little bit higher at times with the pitch. At just 17-years-old, there’s likely room for him to pick up a little bit of velocity in the future as he continues to mature.
Curveball | Despite such a young age, the curveball is already flashing itself as a plus pitch for the lefty.
It’s still incredibly early in the career for Wennington Romero, but he’s out to a fantastic start and his stuff seems to back it up. He would seem to be rather advanced at this point in his career, boasting an incredibly low walk rate (in a league that currently has a walk rate of 4 batters per 9 innings pitched) and missing tons of bats at an age where you don’t often see that.
[/private_subscriber]