Up to Romine to ensure reentry goes smoothly
ONE OF the biggest jobs these final 11 games of the regular season for the Yankees falls to catcher Austin Romine.
With Gary Sanchez out with a groin injury, Romine will be doing most of the work with the pitchers. Luis Severino makes his first start of the year Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Angels as he comes back from shoulder inflammation and a lat strain.
This is a balancing a ct . Romine must make sure all the pitchers are at their best for the postseason, but he must also make sure Severino and reliever Dellin Betances, who could both have major roles in October, do not overextend themselves as they come back from injuries.
“We definitely want to be in a good spot ,’’ Romine told The Post. “You want guys feeling comfortable, you want guys feeling well-rested and you want guys at the top of their game. Guys have put a lot of time in to get back to where they wanted to be and we can definitely use them.
“The bullpen has been pretty good for us all year long, so now we just have to keep together and keep their stuff sharp.’’
There is a fine line guiding back Severino, Betances and Jordan Montgomery.
“The good thing is they have all been here before,’’ Romine said. “Dellin has done this for a long time and Sevy has pitched in some big games in the last couple of years. Mainly, not letting them do too much crazy stuff, keeping them in their strengths when they are out there pitching.’’
With Betances, that means the command he showed Sunday striking out the two batters
he faced, working with a fastball around 94 mph and his devastating breaking ball.
The pitcher/catcher relationship is unique — as highlighted by the Mets issues that Noah Syndergaard has had with Wilson Ramos. Romine is one of those catchers who is totally devoted to his pitchers, though he has greatly i mprove d his offense this season.
Over his last 31 games, Romine is hitting . 356 with 17 runs scored, nine doubles, five home runs and 18 RBIs. Losing Sanchez is a big blow, but Romine is one of the best backup catchers in the game and is smart enough to make adjustments that have helped him develop as both a catcher and a hitter.
“I’ve worked hard,’’ Romine said. “Over the last year or so I have really learned what kind of hitter I am. I stopped trying to be what I wanted to be or where I thought I should be and focused on what I can do and what I can do well.’’
And that takes a burden off him as a hitter.
“It takes a while to f igure out who you are sometimes,’’ Romine said. “I figured out what I can do to help this team win games and what kind of player I can be and I try to stay in that zone. I try to stay in: ‘What’s my job that day, what’s my job at the plate and get it done.’ ’’ A great perspective. As for the starters, James Paxton has come a long way as veteran pitching coach Larry Rothschild has convinced Paxton the value of the backdoor curveball.
“We’ve really leaned on him the last nine or 10 starts and he has done really well,’’ Romine said of Paxton. “The curveball has opened up his game, both sides of the plate, and it has given him some conf idence that he can be a really good pitcher in this division, in this league, in this game. Conf idence is key.’’
The strength of the Yankees has been the confidence they have shown in one another with players stepping into the mix.
“The whole year it has been like that,’’ Romine said. “It’s that mentality of ‘OK, another guy went down, who’s next? Let’s go. Step in and keep the machine moving.’ We def initely need Gary. He is a tremendous teammate, a tremendous person, tremendous athlete. We know that. We definitely need him back, but we got a job to do and the next guy has to step up and do it.’’
The job is to get these pitchers ready, quickly, for October.