4:54pm: Los Angeles officially announced Romero’s promotion, with corner infielder Edwin Ríos moving from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. Ríos suffered a right hamstring tear and has been out since June 3. The transfer is backdated to the time of his initial IL placement, meaning he won’t be eligible to return until the first week of August.
8:38am: The Dodgers plan to select the contract of outfielder Stefen Romero on Wednesday, reports J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. He’ll take the place of infielder Hanser Alberto, who is being placed on the paternity list. It’ll be Romero’s first big league appearance since 2016, capping a six-year odyssey that’s taken him around the world.
Once one of the Mariners’ most promising outfield prospects, Romero made his big league debut as a 25-year-old back in 2014 but scuffled to a .192/.234/.299 output over the course of 72 games. He saw more limited Major League time in each of the next two seasons in Seattle, but despite consistently laying waste to Triple-A pitching, he received only sparse looks and never produced much in those infrequent opportunities.
Following the 2016 season, the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball approached Romero and the Mariners about a potential opportunity, and the M’s granted a then-28-year-old Romero his release in order to sign overseas. Romero was an instant success in Japan, hitting .274/.330/.508 with 26 home runs in the first of would wind up being five seasons in NPB. His second year with the Buffaloes wasn’t as strong, but Romero hit .305/.363/.539 in his third season year with Orix. He then signed on with the Rakuten Eagles for a year and turned in a similarly hearty .274/.354/.539 line during the 2020 campaign.
A return endeavor with the Buffaloes in 2021 lasted just 31 games, but Romero’s five-year stint in NPB nevertheless finished with a solid .264/.331/.497 batting line to go along with 96 home runs, 67 doubles and four triples. He inked a minor league deal with the Dodgers this offseason in hopes of securing a return to the big leagues, and he’ll now realize that dream after beginning the season with a .270/.337/.461 showing in Triple-A Oklahoma City.
It’s possible that this will prove to be a short stay on the big league roster for Romero. Alberto’s stay on the paternity list will be between one and three days, and Romero is out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent back down without first being passed through outright waivers.
The Dodgers do have a need for a right-handed-hitting outfielder at the moment, however, as they’re trying to cobble together a right field platoon while Mookie Betts mends from a cracked rib. They reacquired Trayce Thompson yesterday and appear set to give him the first shot at serving as Eddy Alvarez’s platoon partner, but Romero is also a righty stick who can slot into right field. He’s managed just a .219/.278/.344 slash against lefties in 2022, but that’s come over just 36 plate appearances, so it’s hard to glean much from such a minuscule sample.
Even if it’s a brief stay in the big leagues this time around, today will surely be a day to remember for Romero, whose last MLB appearance came on Aug. 19, 2016 — when he was summoned to the Majors for one game (his lone Major League appearance of that season’s second half). But with the Dodgers’ outfield and bench situations currently in something of a state of flux, it’s at least possible he’ll have the opportunity to carve out a role — at least while Betts is sidelined.
Has anyone figured out if there are any comps between stats from foreign leagues and MLB?
Still a lottery. No more predictable than whether someone successful in college or even AAA will be once they make it to the show.
In theory the NPB would probably be comparable to the International League while the KBO would probably be the equivalent to the Pacific Coast League. Unless Romero comes out of the gate hitting like Puig circa 2013 he probably won’t be up long enough for it to matter
Please Japan league is 10x better than KBO. Japan is 4a league KBO low/high A ball at best.
“ capping a six-year odyssey that’s taken him around the world “. How many Japans are there around the world?
According to google there is one in Dubai.
They’ve got to have a really nice stadium.
Surprised he hasn’t stolen any bases, his brother, Alfa, pretty fast.
Have to go around the world to get to Japan from the USA.
Well… not quite…
What about great circle routes jets take? But Steve probably didn’t mean around THAT literally. Romero has played in the USA and Sendai and Osaka- I think Steve may have meant “various parts of,” when using the term ( #26 under prepositional definitions on Dictionary.com
“I drove around the city last night.”I Obviously, the statement doesn’t necessarily circumnavigated the city borders last night.
Like most online communications with people we have never met in person, it’s easier to be negative.
The Dodgers really don’t want to go to the prospect we’ll do they
Most of their good prospects that are MLB-ready or near-ready prospects are pitchers and infielders. I guess they could give James Outman a look, but he’s 25 with a 30% K% in AA.
Look at their AAA roster for outfielders, they’re all lefties
Yeah they’re kind of in between timing-wise. They have a bunch of promising hitter prospects coming on but most seem to think they’re about a year away. Outman is only in AA but may get bumped to AAA soon and is on the 40 man roster so could get a look later this year at least. The others are mostly infielders (except for Andy Pages who is also arguably 1-2 years away) that they don’t want to rush. Amaya is on the 40 man roster and has continued to be hot at AAA so he could also get a look this year. But for right now, this moment in time, it’s not great timing for their prospects to get a shot. They know more than any of us do about their readiness and I’m sure they’ll get a shot within a year.
Seattle to Japan is hardly “around the world”
Depends on which direction you choose to fly.
Anybody would be better than Trayce Thompson.
looks like the dodgers gleened enough to call him up.
Cup, no coffee.
about time. I figure he does not pan out they will call up Busch
Has Busch been taking reps in the outfield? My most recent knowledge of Busch was that defense closer to his usual spots (IF) was not all that strong.
It seems like moving guys around on defense when they’re not strong playing the field is a problematic plan. It works for athletic super utility types like CT# and Hernandez and maybe even Muncy (he played corner OF before he established his bat.
I don’t think Busch or Amaya projects similarly to other guys who moved around the dirt and grass. Busch is a bat first prospect, not so sure about Amaya. has he played the OF in OKC?
Welcome to Los Karens
next stop, san karens
Over or under he get DFAed in 1 day or a week
Good luck.