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WASHINGTON - Seth Romero made a rapid rise this year, going from low Single-A Hagerstown in 2018 to three appearances at the Major League level with the Nationals this past season.
Now the lefty pitcher will try to work his way back to the majors after he hurt his right (non-throwing) had in a fall in August that ended his first season in the big leagues.
Romero is now in Florida as part of the Instructional League program for Washington as he is on Major League rehab.
“He has been down here throwing and he looks great,” Sam Narron, slated to be the Harrisburg pitching coach in 2020, told Federal Baseball on Thursday from Florida.
“He has been throwing bullpens; his stuff is out of this world.”
“He has a great change-up to go with the nice fastball and good command,” added Narron, who pitched for the Texas Rangers in 2004. “He is down here kind of finishing out his year to get prepared for next spring and try to push to make the big league team, I am sure.”
Narron is not sure if Romero will pitch against another team – at this point the Marlins – in Instructional League play. The original schedule had the Nationals playing the Marlins 12 times, with the last game on Oct. 24.
Washington won its first game Monday by a score of 4-3 and won again on Tuesday by a count of 5-0, both times over the Marlins.
Romero, 24, was a first-round pick out of the University of Houston in 2017 by the Nationals, despite some off-field issues.
The Texas native didn’t pitch at the pro level in 2019, after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018, but he made his MLB debut in New York against the Mets on August 13 after spending time at the alternate site in Virginia as part of the 60-player pool. He had an ERA of 13.50 in three games before getting hurt.
“He came in, trainer came into my office, and said Seth’s right hand is swollen, we’re going to get him an X-ray today. We had to wait for the technician. We were actually in the game, playing the game when [trainer] Paul [Lessard] came back out and told me, ‘X-rays showed that he had broken his hand,’” Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez said after the injury.
It was a disappointing development for the lefty, who recovered from Tommy John surgery, then worked his way up to the mound in the majors during this 60-game MLB campaign.