It seems that Sal Romano, one of the Cincinnati Reds top pitching prospects will be making his Major League debut on Sunday. It all started with a tweet that was quickly deleted that tipped things off. After seeing the tweet I was able to get a second source that told me the same thing – Sal Romano will start on Sunday for the Reds.
And now the Reds are confirming it, without making an official move yet (it won’t be made until Sunday so they don’t have to play short a player). About 15 minutes after I ran this, Jim Day tweeted this out from Manager Bryan Price:
@salromano14 will start Sunday per Bryan Price #Reds
— Jim Day (@JimDayTV) April 14, 2017
During spring training it was Sal Romano who had arguably the best stats of any pitcher. He struck out a team best 25 batters in 20.0 innings. The 23-year-old posted a 3.15 ERA in that span with just three walks. He kept on going in Louisville in his first two starts of the year. In those two starts with the Bats he posted a 1.38 ERA with just one walk in 13.0 innings. He struck out eight batters along the way.
On Tuesday he started in Louisville and dominated the Toledo Mud Hens for 7.0 innings. You can read the entire article here if you’d like, but I’ll share the scouting report and video once again here.
Sal Romano Scouting Report
Fastball | Early in the game he was sitting 95-97 MPH, though he settled in at 95-96 later in the game. There were only a few 94’s all night.
Change Up | The pitch was working in the mid-to-upper 80’s on the night. It’s got some armside action to it and some sinking action on it as well.
Breaking Ball | On this night the pitch worked in the 86-88 MPH range. The slider can be an above-average to perhaps plus offering when it’s at it’s best. It’s average to slightly above-average at other times.
There are a lot of things to like with Sal Romano when you watch him on the mound. He’s a big, intimidating pitcher. The fastball is going to come at you hard. The offspeed stuff is going to come at you hard. He’s willing to throw all three pitches and seems to do so with confidence. Perhaps most importantly, he’s able to throw all three pitches for strikes.
Going back to July 7th of 2016, here’s the statline for Sal Romano between Double-A Pensacola (76.1 innings) and Triple-A Louisville (13.0 innings):
| IP | H | ER | BB | K | HR | ERA |
| 89.1 | 67 | 20 | 10 | 77 | 3 | 2.01 |