Romano’s slider is based on science
BUFFALO— The tics, the twitches, the quirks. And, oh yeah, the squats.
To our knowledge, Jordan Romano doesn’t suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Not head-shrunk diagnosed, anyway.
He’s merely a pitcher getting into the weird mannerisms groove out of the bullpen, a starter turned high-leverage reliever and closer contender in the Blue Jays’ future.
Talks to himself on the mound, out loud. “Mental talk. Like, don’t give in, make sure you pound the zone. A lot of stuff comes into my head.”
Shimmies his butt when he looks in for the sign. And squats before coming set. A move, Romano acknowledges, he copied from Ken Giles.
“So, yeah, I have the squat this year,” the native of Markham, Ont. was telling the Star in a Zoomie interview on Friday, before Toronto opened a weekend series at Sahlen Field with the visiting Rays. “That’s something new. I saw Giles had it and I just wanted to try it out because he’s been the best closer in the game for a long time.
“It’s helped me kind of separate each pitch individually, not letting two or three pitches go by and my focus hasn’t been there. When I do the squat, it’s my mental lock-in.”
Not a kink he would or could have embraced in his previous starter life, before transitioning to relief upon restoration to the Jays as a Rule 5 returnee a year ago March. Snort to that question. “Then I’d be doing 100 squats a game.” Aha, right. Here’s the thing. Idiosyncrasies and eccentricities notwithstanding, Romano — at the fairly ripe age of 27, five years removed from Tommy John surgery and extensively reinvented — has become a clutch component of a ’pen cadre which has, with a few exceptions, acquitted itself remarkably well for the Jays. That Wednesday implosion aside — a14-11 loss in extras to Miami — the arms-summoned have leaned in, with Romano, Ryan Borucki and A.J. Cole boasting a chastity circle ERA of 0.00.
Indeed, Romano had put up 82⁄ 3 innings of pristine pitching before surrendering his first hit — on wacko Wednesday. Only three walks on the 2020 resume while racking up 13 strikeouts and appearing in a majority (nine) of Toronto games.
“I don’t know if there’s any real secret to it. I’m just trying to attack the zone, stay in favourable counts, aggressive with both my fastball and my slider. It’s shown some early success.”
Commanding stuff, relying primarily on that lethal fastball-slider combo. The slider touches high 90s, for criminy sake, and the heat regularly resides in the same neighbourhood.
The slider, though, has the club salivating. “His slider has been phenomenal,” GM Ross Atkins recently enthused. “The velocity plays at 96 to 98. He can move it around pretty well if he needs to. He can elevate it. Right-handed, left-handed. Seeing him in arguably the highest pressure situations we’ve had yet this season and how he’s handled that from an emotional level is really encouraging.
Adding, of Romano’s metamorphosis: “It’s so interesting with relievers. So much a part of the eighth and ninth and even seventh, where there’s significant leverage and the best hitters are up, so much of it is mindset. The ability to execute in high-pressure situations. Now he’s doing it at a consistent level.”
Romano, no false modesty, is admiring of the slider too. “Yeah, that’s the pitch. I think right now I’m throwing it more than my fastball. Yeah, the speed, I think it’s almost five miles an hour harder than it was last year. With the same break if not even more break on it. I’m excited about that pitch. I’m going to be using it a lot.”
It didn’t just fall out of the sky, however. (Skyward is where Romano is still looking for a changeup, just sayin’.) He worked on it like a draught horse in the off-season, devoted to the high-tech science of pitching, adopting gadgetry such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, putting in long hours at Kinetic Pro Baseball in Tampa, alongside Nate Pearson. Scrutinizing his mechanics with pitching coach Pete Walker and bullpen coach
Matt Buschmann. Packing on 10 pounds of muscle too. “We monitored how much I was throwing. That was the first time I’d ever done that. I realized in previous off-seasons I’d been throwing way too much and I’d kind of be breaking down my body before spring training even started.”
At the other end of the season, arm fatigue in the late stages and a fat ERA.
“That’s one thing I’ve learned: not throwing too much, just making sure my arm’s ready to go for the next game. I feel like that’s helping a lot.”
Doesn’t necessarily explain the dramatic drop-off in walks: nine over 151⁄ 3 innings in 2019.
“That’s kind of a mind-shift for me,” says Romano. “Maybe in years past, I was kind of nibbling a little bit, trying to catch the corner. Then I’d fall into bad counts, get behind, walk more guys. Now I’m trying to be more aggressive. For me, trying to be in the zone from pitch one. That’s helping me stay ahead in the count.”
Has thus far avoided the bomb too, returned to a “home” ballpark he knows well from his triple-A days and which hadn’t been that kind to him: four home runs in 18 innings (15 games) at Sahlen Field last year. Which might support the contention, among some Jays who’ve come through Buffalo, that this is a hitter-friendly yard. Romano isn’t having any of it. “I didn’t think of it as a hitter’s park or a pitcher’s park. I felt it played pretty true. Last year, the homers were just me throwing bad pitches.”
It’s a pity that, enjoying such a charmed season, his family hasn’t been able to see any of it in person, kept to the Canadian side of the border even while several players have been joined by wives and girlfriends now that they’ve settled into Buffalo — loved ones who aren’t limited by inside-theU.S. travel restrictions.
“I’d love to have my family come down. They’re only an hour and a half away. It does kind of suck. But safety comes first.”
A bit of Canadiana from the Timbits at the Tim Hortons attached to the team’s hotel. Walks by the lake. Mostly just thinking baseball, though. In this bizarre pandemic season, Romano says he’s lasered in on the game like never before. “You can’t really do much, you’re in your hotel room a lot. It does give you time to reflect on yourself, reflect on the game.”
And watching baseball on the telly too. Or highlights at least. Which is where Romano witnessed the weirdness within the weirdness on Thursday of Washington ace Stephen Strasburg getting tossed for arguing calls — while sitting in the stands at Citi Field.
“Never thought I’d see a player ever get ejected while sitting in the stands,” said Romano, shaking his head. “But you know, here we are. That’s 2020 for you.”