Cincinnati Reds Sal Romano seals the deal on a rotation spot in 2018

After having his up and downs, Sal Romano has earned his spot in the Cincinnati Reds rotation for 2018.

Sal Romano has established his spot in the 2018 rotation for the Cincinnati Reds after a solid September. Romano made five starts going 1-3 for the month. He covered 28 ⅓ innings over those starts average 5 ⅔ innings.

Romano allowed just 29 hits including two home runs in September. Even his ten walks allowed in the month was a good number for a rookie starter. The only down note was the .271 batting average against for the month for Romano.

Romano’s ERA was 3.49 for the month with a WHIP of 1.38. He also averaged 96 pitches per start. Of those pitches 64 were strikes on average.

Of course, August was not as nice to Romano. In August Romano started six games with an ERA of 5.11. He went 2-3, but with a WHIP of 1.41 it could have been worse.

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Romano allowed 42 hits in 37 innings resulting in a batting average against of .292. He only walked ten batters in the entire month and kept the home runs allowed respectable at four. He also struck out a decent 26 batters.

With an up and down end to his season with the Cincinnati Reds, Sal Romano is better than the other rotation options for the rotation.

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By the end of the season Romano had amassed a 5-8 record over sixteen starts. That’s a rookie with thirteen decisions in sixteen starts. That shows that Romano is going deep into games.

The Reds tried out fifteen other pitchers as starters in 2017. Romano was one of the bulk of pitchers averaging between five and six innings per start. That is OK for the back end of the rotation.

Romano was fourth in starter ERA at the end of the season behind pitchers who were healthy at the end of the season.

Newly discovered ace Luis Castillo and top pitching prospect Tyler Mahle were both above him. Robert Stephenson also had a better ERA as a starter, so they may end up battling each other.

Romano was also fifth on the team in innings pitched with 87 in Cincinnati. Including his 49 innings from Louisville, Romano pitched the second most innings of any starter on the Reds just behind Castillo. Tim Adleman pitched the most innings for the Reds, but none pitched 125 or more.

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Romano is a consistent inning eater that the Reds will need behind Castillo and Mahle. He has shown that he can throw a good amount of innings. The Reds seem set for 2018, however the Reds still need to find a few more pitchers.

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