Catcher Drew Romo was a risky pick; Rockies think he was well worth it

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Even the great Johnny Bench, who revolutionized the catching position, wasn’t a first-round draft choice out of high school.

In June 1965, in baseball’s first free-agent draft for amateurs, the Cincinnati Reds selected the future Hall of Famer in the second round out of Binger High School (Oklahoma) with the 36th overall pick. Fifty-five years later, the Rockies selected Drew Romo with the 35th (supplemental pick) of the first round in the summer of 2020. He was the first catcher the Rockies selected in the top 100 picks of the draft since 1998.

The draft-and-develop Rockies dove in to swim against the tide.

Conventional baseball wisdom says that drafting a prep catcher, particularly in the first round, is risky business because they tend to take so long to develop, and because of the wear and tear of baseball’s most demanding position.

Dating back to 2015, only seven high school catchers have been drafted in the first round. Only two were selected in the first round in 2020 — Romo and Oakland’s Tyler Soderstrom. The most recent first-round prep catcher to make it as an everyday player in the majors is Cincinnati’s Tyler Stephenson. He was drafted in 2015 and didn’t make his bigleague debut until 2020 when he was almost 24 years old.

But Romo has a chance to be a baseball rarity and Jerry Weinstein is thrilled the Rockies rolled the dice.

“If you take a standpoint of ‘always do this, or never do that,’ you’re going to miss the exceptions, you’re going to miss the outliers,” said the 79-year-old Weinstein, who still works as a Rockies special assistant and roving catching instructor. “And that explains Drew Romo. You’re never going to find players like him if you have blinders on.”

Weinstein has coached Romo extensively and is convinced the 21-year-old catcher has all of the skills necessary to succeed in the majors.

“You have four pillars in catching: receiving, throwing, blocking and game management, and Drew has the skills to be exceptional in all of them,” Weinstein said. “And I’m not even mentioning his offense.”

Romo, quietly confident and all business, has no doubt the Rockies made the right decision.

“I’m 100% (prepared) for where I’m at,” said Romo, who committed to LSU before signing with the Rockies for a $2.1 million slot bonus. “I’ve always been prepared for big situations and stuff like that. That’s a testament to all of the levels of baseball I’ve played at.”

Ask anyone who knows Romo and they’ll tell you that he’s mature well beyond his years. His personality, hard work and obsession with details have a lot to do with that.

Romo was an old soul even before the Rockies drafted him at age 18 out of The Woodlands (Texas) High School in 2018.

By age 12, he was a committed catcher and self-proclaimed perfectionist. Along with his father, Chris Romo, the young backstop attended clinics, read books and studied drills on Youtube to hone his gritty, sweaty craft.

“He wasn’t your typical high school catcher, he was like a coach on the field at times,” said Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt, who was the club’s scouting director when it tabbed Romo. “It was apparent to all the (major league) scouts that he was advanced behind the plate.”

But all of that preparation didn’t prevent Romo from being a bit star-struck by his first bigleague spring training.

“It’s sick,” he said. “It’s sick being around these guys in the bigleague locker room. It’s pretty cool.”

Manager Bud Black said a dose of big-league seasoning will do Romo good.

“To rub shoulders with (Kyle) Freeland and (German) Marquez, (Kris) Bryant, (Charlie) Blackmon, it’s a stepping stone of development,” Black said. “You knock the awe off of being around big league players.”

Romo’s combination of maturity, his spongy willingness to learn, the fact that he’s a switchhitter with some pop, and his sweet skills behind the plate have the Rockies believing he has a chance to be the best home-grown catcher in franchise history.

“There is a lot to like and a lot of talent there,” said bench/ catchers coach Mike Redmond, who spent 13 years catching in the majors. “Now, for Drew, it’s a matter of getting the experience he needs behind the plate and with the bat to make his way to the big leagues.”

Romo is slotted to begin this season at Double-a Hartford. There’s a chance he could make his major league debut in 2024.

“I like to think he’s in a good place,” Schmidt said. “I think he knows he’s good and he wants to get here. But you also have to enjoy the ride and have some fun. (Young players) can be a little bit intense because they want to get there yesterday. I tell them, you need to focus on where your feet are.”

Black, who prides himself on being a tough judge of pitchers and catchers, is eager to see Romo in Cactus League action this spring.

“Maturity is something that stood out to our scouts, as well as Drew’s dedication,” Black said. “We thought he had something beyond other young players. He’s shown that in the minors. Now we want to see him against bigleaguers.”

Romo has an impressive track record. By the time the Rockies selected him, he had already spent years in the dirt behind the dish.

He was a four-year starter for The Woodlands Highlanders, hitting .405 as a freshman.

The Woodlands is a top-notch program that has produced excellent players, including Paul Goldschmidt and Jameson Taillon. Romo also was a member of the Team USA 18-U national team in 2018 and ’19 and played in tournaments in Taiwan, Japan and Panama. He hit .458 in eight games at the U-18 Pan-american Championships in Panama before his senior season of high school.

Ranked as the Rockies’ No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Romo went from high school to Singlea Fresno in 2021. He thrived, even though he was more than two years younger than the average player in the league. He put up a .314/.345/.439 slash line with six home runs, 17 doubles and 47 RBIS in 339 plate appearances.

His 2022 season at High-a Spokane wasn’t quite as productive, mostly because of a hand injury in July that affected his ability to drive the ball and didn’t allow him to catch. He was a full-time designated hitter for his final 24 games.

Before the injury, he hit .299/.354/.444 with five home runs in 65 games. He ended up slashing .254/.321/.372 with five homers, 19 doubles and 58 RBIS in 420 plate appearances.

Overall, Romo was pleased with his second professional season.

“I showed that I could hit from both sides of the plate, which I was really happy about,” he said. “My catching was good, too. I think I improved my blocking a lot last year.”

And he discovered something that will stick with him throughout his career.

“I learned that you have to be mentally ready and focused on every pitch,” he said. “If you take a pitch off and the ball is in the dirt, you’re going to be late. So it’s about the anticipation part of it and just being ready. I’m learning something every day. I realize that.”