Blue Jays Notebook: Romano in great position to win late-inning job - Sportsnet.ca

TORONTO — As he warmed up in the Rogers Centre bullpen ahead of Wednesday night’s intrasquad game atMaybe Fenway Park in Boston. Or Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. He imagined he was entering a real, live game that counts, pitching the seventh or eighth inning with a slim lead to protect and some of the American League East’s most intimidating hitters trying to take it away.

And he certainly looked the part Wednesday, striking out the side in his lone inning of work. Romano blew a fastball past Bo Bichette for his first strikeout. He got Ruben Tejada to look at a slider on the inside corner for his second. And he nearly made Lourdes Gurriel Jr. fall over chasing a 3-2 slider for his third. He was untouchable throughout, throwing nine of his 14 pitches for strikes.

He also comes into 2020 with a new plan of attack, seeking to use his fastball more often up in the zone and let his big slider take care of the rest. Last season, Romano focused on attacking down with that fastball. But it wasn’t a particularly successful strategy, as the following zone breakdown showing the isolated power of opposition hitters against his heater indicates:“After the season was done, I looked at pretty much all of the numbers.

He had success early, but over-use and nagging physical ailments caught up to him late in the season. As he tried to pitch through it, Romano’s stuff diminished. And his results suffered in turn. Romano finished the season with a 7.63 ERA over 17 big-league appearances, leading him to make some of the physical and workload changes he underwent this off-season. And so far, the results are impossible to ignore.

Now, Romano will shape the pitch differently depending on the count, taking away some break early in counts when he wants to get it over the plate, and adding some sharpness with two strikes when he wants to generate swing-and-miss. It’s been a whirlwind, and not only is it Martin’s first time in a professional baseball environment, but it’s his first time in a baseball environment of any kind since the NCAA season was halted due to pandemic in March. That’s why the Blue Jays are easing Martin in to camp and keeping him out of games for now until he has his feet under him.

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