JORDAN ROMANO THE FUTURE CLOSER

By no means was Jordan Romano touted among the young stars on that Fisher Cats team. In fact, there were times when it appeared to be the opposite.

Still on the path toward being a starter, the Markham, Ont. native was pitching his way out of the organization — literally.

But that doesn't mean the big-league dream wasn't burning for the right-hander, whose ascent to one of the top closers in the American League has become a personal and organizational success story.

“I feel like being on that 2018 team was such a great opportunity for me, for all of us,” Romano said. “First of all, you are starting in double-a and you can start tasting (the big leagues). And then there was all that talent there. It was the most-hyped team in a long time. Bo. Vladdy. Lourdes. Cavan. And Schneider leading the way. It was just an incredible team.

“I was just grinding trying to stay with them. You could definitely tell — and people watching could tell — that these were going to be the next guys to do it.”

Not all felt that way about Romano back then. He was inconsistent in the starter's role, albeit with flashes of that electric arm that has seen him rise to the most coveted spot in the bullpen.

One teammate is adamant that he saw the future bullpen ace in him, however.

“(The organization) wanted to use him as a starter, but I felt that he could step into a reliever role and (excel),” said second baseman Biggio. “I could see it, just the way he competes and gets focused, that moving to a reliever role he was going to be successful.

“He always had that dog-in-the-fight mentality. He'd give up a homer, and the next pitch would be 97 (miles per hour). He always had that deep down inside of him, and I knew he was going to be successful because of it.”

For Romano, it was going to take some time.

In fact, in December of that same year he was left exposed by the Jays and selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Texas Rangers. After a brief stint in spring training, he was released, and the Jays brought him back.

At that point, the shift was made from starter to reliever and Romano's career trajectory took a rocket-ship ride in another direction.

“Developmentally, you want to give a guy every opportunity to be a starter and Jordan was finding his way,” Kim said. “But there were always some positives. His work ethic. His drive. His intelligence. A really strong arm and his athleticism. He's one of the better athletes in our organization and we were betting on that.

“Should we have pushed (to move him to a reliever role) earlier? Hindsight is easy. But we knew with Jordan we were getting a competitor, an athlete, a worker and a talented arm. We had belief in him in whatever role it was.”

That faith turned into an unexpected windfall for both the team and the pitcher. Even though his path was different than the others, that year in Manchester was central to his journey.

“We ended up winning the championship, but learning to grow together, to grind together, to win together ... I think that really helped when I got called up to the big leagues,” Romano said. “It felt like you were just playing with your friends again. Cav was here. Bo was here. Vlad. I was a little bit behind them, but when I got here, I definitely felt more comfortable.”