Phillies left-hander JoJo Romero will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the remainder of the 2021 season, manager Joe Girardi announced to reporters (link via Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia). He’ll undergo the procedure next week and miss a good portion of the 2022 season as well.
The 24-year-old Romero hasn’t yet had much success at the big league level yet, surrendering 16 earned runs on 25 hits and six walks with 18 punchouts in 25 2/3 innings. But he’s regarded as one of the organization’s more promising young arms, placing 13th among Phillies farmhands at FanGraphs and 21st at Baseball America. Romero has tallied 392 2/3 innings in the minors since being selected in the fourth round of the 2016 draft, pitching to an overall 3.69 ERA with a 21.7 percent strikeout rate, an 8.1 percent walk rate and a hearty 53.2 percent ground-ball rate. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen tabs him as a possible multi-inning reliever for the Phils.
Romero’s season-ending injury allowed the Phillies to move him to the 60-day injured list and free up a 40-man roster spot for infielder Ronald Torreyes, who returned from the Covid-19 list last night and delivered a two-run, pinch-hit double in Philadelphia’s win over Miami.
Happy Steely Dan Day – aka May Nineteen – to everyone.
LOL….one of my all time favorite bands. No one else ever has or ever will make music like that again. While we’re at it, RIP Walter Becker!
Question now is how quickly will the Phillies now move their top LHP Miller through the system?
They should have never let Tony Watson walk, he’s been absolutely terrific out of the pen this yr.
There was no way to know that back in ST. The Phillies were counting on JoJo to continue to make strides. It didn’t work out for this year.
Sometimes it goes the other way though. Who thought Maton would do this well or that Brad Miller would be such a boon of the bench?
Like the Phillies 2008 Bullpen, you just never know.
i dont really think Jojo was being counted on for anything, the team just wasnt too concerned with thr number of lefties in the pen. and anyway its been much improved even without Watson.
I disagree. He has a strong track record of outperforming advanced statistics throughout his career. Were we really in a position to let a veteran bullpen pitcher walk when we could have started the year with Brogdon in the minors? Especially so after the bullpen’s performance last season? I personally don’t think so.
I do not blame Dombroski, but whoever offered Hale a contract before he arrived is an idiot. Hale should have been fighting for an MILB deal at best but instead he hog tied the final bullpen spot with his guaranteed contract. It’s frustrating to say the least.
Hale was a Klentak move from 2020. That said, I completely agree with you. Hale has no place on an MLB roster.
Dombrowski isn’t doing much better, lol
I knew it that it was a mistake letting Watson go right from the beginning. Its a shame that the Phillies thought that he wasn’t going to be an effective reliever. He’s pitching well for the Angels.
It was Watson’s choice to opt out. The Phillies did not cut him, or ‘let him go’
By not adding him to the 26 man roster, it was inevitable that he was going to look for another opportunity to pitch in the majors with another team.
Say it ain’t so, JoJo
[sadness]
Will he crush a can on his forehead before or after surgery?
Before.
Why… every day someone new. Sad
I’m not a Philly fan and don’t know much about Romero, but man is really sucks that all these guys are needing Tommy John surgery and missing 1 1/2-2 years of their career…if they ever fully recover at all. Get back, Jo Jo!
Is this an elaborate JoJo reference?
[groan]
Phillies bullpen is cursed. It’s improved this year, but it’s still bad. That being said, it’s great to have Archie Bradley back. Get well soon, JoJo. See you next year. Hopefully you and Seranthony come back strong.
its not bad. we need to stop acting like a RP allowing runs sometimes makes them bad.
It’s bad. Just not last year bad. They started off great, but a sluggish offense and late 2 run leads are getting blown multiple times a week. They can give up a couple runs but they aren’t ahead enough to do that most nights. I honestly get jealous every time I watch Miami game (minus last night) or TB game because their bullpen just comes in and shuts things down. Watching Philly let two men on every inning and sometimes not allowing a run is not a good thing.
It’s been bad lately after a great start. They give up too many homeruns. It’s not horrific. 2020 was horrific. But it’s not solid by any means. Phillies recently blew 3 saves in 1 extra inning game. That’s atrocious.
Not related to this article but what would the best package be for Josh Hader?
Brewers don’t seem interested in trading him clearly, but with all the injuries happening, maybe a team decides to overpay and go all in
American Family Field
So just curious, what CAUSES this type of injury and why can’t they eliminate that cause? I low it’s essentially strain from the repeated pitching motion.
But obviously, pitch counts and limited minors usage isn’t making any kind of difference. It doesn’t seem to matter how many or how few pitches are thrown, at any level.
Why was it that so few pitchers needed tjs in the 80’s and 90’s compared to today? Those pitchers sure tossed a lot more innings in the minors AND during the season!
Is it philosophy? (Throw as hard as you can.)
Is it mechanics? (Not enough proper balance or drive in the legs.)
Is it pitch selection? (Slider, splits)
Is it improper arm conditioning? (Too much weight training?)
Do players still ice arms and shoulders during and immediately after games? I know it was typical to see pitchers’ arms wrapped in ice and cold towels in the dugout in the 70’s, even between innings. Why don’t we EVER see that today?
Or is it just not ENOUGH innings being thrown? When Nolan Ryan took over the Rangers, he instituted MORE work for his minor league pitchers and Texas experienced probably its best starting pitching in decades.
It sure seems that it’s 75% certain EVERY pitcher is going to require TJS at some point very early in his career today.
Why?
What is different today than in the 70’s and early 80’s? MOST starting pitchers tossed well over 200 innings per season, completed 8-10 games, even your standard #3 and #4 SP. They never had pitch counts or all this technical, scientific training data and didn’t pay attention to velocity unless it dropped due to a possible injury.
It was even common for relievers to toss 100 innings and routinely threw multiple innings because most of them were relievers because they actually failed as starters!
And today, it seems that you rarely see the veteran pitcher needing this procedure, percentage wise. I just wonder why and welcome conversation.
And just to share for those who might be too young to remember, even HOF’er Lee Smith (470+ saves), Jeff Reardon (350+ saves) and Jesse Orosco/Roger McDowell (for Mets fans like me) ALL began their careers as starters. Even Mariano was a starting pitcher!
Heck, Jeff Reardon had 17 complete games his first two years IN THE MINORS!
All those guys went on to have 15+ year careers and were basically never unavailable to their teams.
Teams need to figure out what the difference is today because all they are doing is shortening careers and paying guys to rehab for 15 months. Is it pitching improperly as kids? Over use in high school and college? Too many breaking pitches while bodies are still growing? Yes, that became a “thing” 35+ years ago and, if I’m not mistaken, kids weren’t even ALLOWED to throw breaking balls to avoid injuries.
I think you are right on the improper use as kids. I forget where I saw it but within the past year I read somewhere that a team gave a bunch of their young prospect pitcher’s MRI’s and were shocked by the amount of partial tears they found . Some manage to play for a few years and make it to the majors before surgery but it’s is shocking the number of young minor league pitchers who have TJ before making it out of their teens. Likely a combination of factors but the intense competition levels for the youngsters and kids as young as 11-12 learning breaking pitches that stress the elbow are high on the list. More muscle mass with the emphasis on velocity is another . How many pitcher 30 yrs ago threw 97-98 + .
MarkoRock68……..”There’s little relationship between elbow injuries and curveball use by young pitchers” ~ Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Glenn Fleisig of the American Sports Medicine Institute.
While recommendations regarding global overuse are supported by the available evidence, data regarding curveballs at a young age—a commonly accepted risk factor for injury—ARE UNCLEAR. A critical review to evaluate whether curveballs put pitchers at increased risk has not been performed.
( National Sports Journal )
Andrews himself does not recommend learning to throw a curve ball before the age of 14.
MarkoRock68…… I was simply quoting the two Doctors who released their position statement on the TJS epidemic.
cbssports.com/mlb/news/dr-james-andrews-releases-p…
Like alot of things different view points. There does need to be a large scale study done. With all the money spent i am surprised MLB has not funded an ongoing multi-year study.
I’ll add one more observation: teams didn’t use 5-6 pitchers EVERY game. Why? Because starting pitchers took it as a personal failure if they had to be removed from a game they started for any reason other than needing a pinch hitter in a big spot late in the game.
Bullpens weren’t expected to carry such a large workload because those guys essentially weren’t GOOD enough to be in the rotation. Those #8 through #10 bullpen arms were really only used if the starter got shelled, hurt or otherwise was removed from the game much earlier than expected. Starters expected to pitch into the 8th. That was their JOB.
Their contracts and success were based almost solely on the # of wins listed on the backs of their baseball cards.
Just my thoughts as a fan. I would assume it’s all about the jump in velocity. Every pitcher throws as hard as they can every pitch now. That can’t be good for the body. Back in the day a pitcher through as hard as he could to allow himself to throw 120+ pitches. Instead of 99 or 100 they threw 93 mph. Just my thought on all these arm injuries.
Instead of getting into a lengthy reply I will just cite some those on the cutting edge (bad pun intended)
cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-no-hitters-how-historic…
youtu.be/utqT9EgRUtw
static.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/bp/1431308.html
JoJo Ro to undergo Jo. Lo! 🙁
No article about the Turnbull no hitter yet?
They haven’t previously done articles pertaining to other no-hitters that I can remember: they’ve mentioned no-hitters, but not done full articles on them. It is a rumor and transaction-based site after all.
Could we all agree that the Mets have gotten hit the hardest in the division when it comes to injuries?
@MetsFan22 Do you want a sympathy award for the Mets boo boos?
I just don’t want any excuses when we win the division. Phillies looking pretty good tho.
I still think both teams are underperforming. Think the Mets will get it together because their pitching has been insanely good. I’m less confident about the Phillies.
Daniel Norris-Dave is familiar
Big Toe is back!
He had a big hit last night, but other than that his Phillies tenure has been pretty forgettable.
Who?