By James Bailey
Rick Porcello vs Ricky Romero
Detroit Tigers at Toronto Blue Jays
April 9, 2009
Here’s a matchup of two first-round picks, both making their major league debut. Porcello has rocketed through the Tigers system, skipping Double-A and Triple-A altogether. Romero, on the other hand, spun his wheels in Double-A for nearly three years before finally jumping to Triple-A last year. Neither was expected to break camp with the big club, but strong springs and desperate teams added up to opportunity.
Porcello, 20, led the Class A Florida State League with a 2.66 ERA in his professional debut last year. Even for a pitching-friendly league that’s quite an accomplishment. The No. 27 overall pick in the 2007 draft, he received a Tigers team-record $7 million deal when he signed. He’d been regarded as the top high school pitcher in that June’s draft, but concerns about his signability caused him to fall to Detroit. At 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, he’s drawn comparisons to Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, for both his build and his arsenal. His ratios in the FSL were similar to the ones Halladay posted back in 1996, also as a 19-year-old. Neither racked up the strikeouts in that league, though both were equipped to do so in time. Halladay has broken the 200 mark twice in the big leagues, and Porcello ought to do the same eventually, though not this year. In spring training he notched just eight punchouts in 15 2/3 innings, but his 2.30 ERA kept him in the running when Dontrell Willis imploded and the Tigers realized Jeremy Bonderman wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day.
The Blue Jays plucked Romero sixth overall in the 2005 draft, out of Cal State Fullerton, and handed the lefthander a $2.4 million bonus. Toronto assigned him to the FSL at the start of 2006 and he looked like he’d be on the fast track to the majors after posting a 2.47 ERA in 10 starts and striking out 61 batters in 58 1/3 innings. He met his match after a jump to Double-A New Hampshire, however, going 2-7 with a 5.08 ERA in 12 starts there the rest of the way. He never did master the Eastern League, but the Jays finally moved him up to Triple-A late last summer and he logged a 3.38 ERA in seven starts for Syracuse. This spring he struck out 22 batters in 23 innings while recording a 3.91 ERA in Grapefruit League play. The 24-year-old needs to refine his curve ball to give him another quality pitch along with his low-90s fastball and a changeup. Under better circumstances Toronto would probably prefer him to enjoy some prolonged success in the upper minors, but their staff is a mess and someone’s got to take the ball.
