Cincinnati Reds’ Sal Romano tries to maintain his hold on a rotation spot

As the Luis Castillo establishes himself as the second half ace for the Reds, Sal Romano tries to establish himself as a legit MLB pitcher.

The Cincinnati Reds are trying to rebuild the pitching staff and two youngsters are taking the lead. Luis Castillo, who came over in the Dan Straily deal, is 12 starts into what appears to be a great MLB career. He has yet to allow more than four runs in a game and his last start was the first time he didn’t get through five innings.

Sal Romano, meanwhile, has been up and down since his MLB debut on Easter Sunday. He pitched well enough that day, but threw 82 pitches in three innings. He went down to Louisville and came back to Cincinnati the first week of July.

Since then, Romano has started eight games. Twice Romano has pitched six or more innings, while giving up a single run. Those are the starts that make the Reds think that they have something special in Romano.

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Romano also has a pair of starts in which he pitched less than five innings. In neither of those games did Romano allow a home run. He did, however, allow eight earned runs in 7 2/3 innings in those two games.

For the Cincinnati Reds, it is the average games that will determine whether Sal Romano can stick in the big league rotation.

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In his other four starts Romano went 22 innings. He allowed 18 runs, 17 earned. That’s an ERA of 6.95.

That’s ugly, but it may be good enough to keep getting a look. His 5.32 ERA is still better than a replacement level pitcher. More importantly, it is better than that of Amir Garrett, Cody Reed, and Robert Stephenson.

There are some warnings, though, that Romano isn’t quite ready. He only has 37 strikeouts in over 45 innings. His WHIP is also a robust 1.58.

Both of those stats speak to a pitcher that is not ready to combat with the talent at the MLB level. The batting average against is also .287. That, combined with 22 walks, means that Romano has trouble maintaining consistent dominance.

Right now, Romano is pitching good enough to start every fifth day. Castillo looks better and Tim Adleman has been more consistent, but that is it. Adleman is currently the team’s long reliever. That the Reds keep sending Robert Stephenson out there is a sign of their desperation.

Next: Is it time for Jesse Winker to go back to Louisville?

Whether Romano ends up as a starter or a reliever, he appears to have big league stuff. If he can get his pitch counts down, he should be a decent starter. If not, he may just be the next Logan Ondrusek.

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