Sal Romano

Gone are the days when the Reds needed to eat innings with the likes of Romano in their starting rotation. Now their rotation is actually a strength, so Romano is a first-man-out-of-the-bullpen type. He throws hard (96 mph average fastball), but he hasn't been getting the results even with the transition to the bullpen. Romano struggles the most with his fastball, both when it's a sinker or his less-frequently-thrown four-seamer. Cincinnati has not made any major bullpen additions this offseason and Romano is out of minor-league options, but regardless, Romano appears on the roster bubble heading into spring training.

The big concern about Romano going into the 2018 season was his inability to strike batters out despite a big fastball, and that problem simply got exacerbated when he lost 1.1 mph off his average fastball in 2018. His strikeout rate dropped along with his velo, from 7.5 K/9 to 6.5 last year. Instead of thinking he might still develop into a reliable starter, we're more comfortable saying he's cannon fodder for the Reds until they're ready to compete. Unfortunately, they've been in that mode for a while now. They have an offense that could be competitive, if they could ever develop a rotation. A new coaching staff might help, but new pitchers might help more. A good barometer of whether the Reds are ready to take the next step is whether Romano is still in their rotation.

For a pitcher that throws as hard as Romano does, his strikeout rate has always been underwhelming and 2017 provided another good example - he struck out 7.6 batters per nine innings, a mark he's significantly topped only once in his minor-league career. The reason for this -- and often the reason that other flamethrowers struggle to put away opposing hitters -- is the lack of a good third pitch. Romano relies heavily upon his fastball and has a decent slider, but his changeup and curveball have often been lacking throughout his career. A corollary to Romano's package is that he consistently has a higher BABIP and underperforms metrics like FIP and xFIP. In fact, at every single professional level, Romano's ERA has been higher than his FIP. Because he can't miss bats, Romano is consistently nibbling, hoping to induce weak contact. He'll be at the fringe of the Reds' rotation again in 2018.

Romano was sent to repeat the Double-A level after a rough showing in Pensacola the year before, and he responded well to the assignment. In his age-22 season, Romano amassed 156 innings in 27 starts while producing a strong 3.52 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. His workload wasn't the only impressive part, as he also managed to put up a 144:34 K:BB in that span while allowing just 0.6 home runs per nine innings. The scary part is that his peripherals suggest that his numbers could've been even better; his FIP sat nearly 60 points below his ERA (2.94) and the BABIP opposing hitters produced against him sat at an unsustainably-high .332 mark. With an arsenal that features a mid-90s sinking fastball to go with a developing curveball and changeup, Romano has the dealings to make the leap to Triple-A next season and potentially reach the big leagues by late 2017 or early 2018.