Drew Rom’s first journey to Camden Yards as an enormous leaguer didn’t go as deliberate. In reality, the again of his baseball card doesn’t present that it even occurred.
The left-handed pitching prospect was promoted to the foremost leagues for the primary time May 9, becoming a member of a taxed Orioles’ bullpen for 2 video games. But he didn’t seem in both sport and was optioned again to Triple-A with out making his MLB debut.
He’s again at Camden Yards this week and can pitch there for the primary time Wednesday, however it’ll be in opposition to the Orioles, not for them. Rom was one in every of three prospects Baltimore traded to St. Louis for starter Jack Flaherty, and he’s again at Oriole Park as a member of the Cardinals’ rotation, beginning Wednesday in opposition to his former crew.
“Definitely not the situation I envisioned,” Rom mentioned Tuesday within the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards. “I always wanted to pitch here in the big leagues at some point. … Coming back to Camden, this is something I’ve waited for for five years.”
Rom, the Orioles’ No. 15 prospect when he was traded, mentioned he doesn’t have any further motivation pitching in opposition to the Orioles, harboring no unhealthy emotions about being traded in early August by the group that drafted him within the fourth spherical in 2018.
“It’s a business, it’s baseball,” he mentioned.
He is, nevertheless, “excited” to face his former teammates, naming sluggers Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Ryan Mountcastle. But he’s most wanting ahead to going through infielder and good friend Jordan Westburg, who Rom performed alongside the previous few seasons in Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk.
“We’ve grown really close the last couple years,” Rom mentioned.
Rom, a soft-tossing lefty, had a 5.34 ERA in 86 innings with the Tides earlier than the commerce. He began two video games for Triple-A Memphis and made his MLB debut with the Cardinals on Aug. 21, pitching 3 2/3 innings and surrendering six earned runs. He’s pitched a bit higher since, permitting 9 runs in his previous three begins, together with one in his hometown of Cincinnati.
Rom enters his begin with a 7.79 ERA in 17 1/3 innings since becoming a member of the Cardinals. Flaherty, in the meantime, has a 7.16 ERA in six begins.
The 23-year-old mentioned he was shocked to be traded. Norfolk supervisor Buck Britton referred to as Rom into his workplace only a minute or two earlier than the deadline on Aug. 1. Fellow top-20 Orioles prospects César Prieto and Zack Showalter had been additionally despatched to the Cardinals within the commerce.
“I was anxious and sad for sure just because I was leaving everyone I knew in the professional baseball world for the most part,” Rom mentioned. “These are the guys I grew up with.”
His constructive emotions concerning the Orioles group, although, doesn’t imply he needs Baltimore to take a step towards clinching a playoff berth on his watch.
“Of course it will feel good if I go out and shove against the Orioles,” he mentioned. “It always feels good to do that. There’s no chip on my shoulder, no grudge against anyone over there. … I’m just going to go out and do my thing and have fun doing it against some of my best friends.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com