Yankees’ Sal Romano relishing his chance to pitch for childhood favorite team
Romano #Romano
Greg Allen, Trey Amburgey, Rob Brantly, Hoy Park, Asher Wojciechowski: all players who spent most of this season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre waiting for a chance to help the Yankees, one that finally came amidst the team’s COVID-19 outbreak.
Add right-hander Sal Romano to that list, but with a caveat: Romano was signed as a minor-league free agent in May, because the Yankees saw something in the 27-year-old that they thought they could mold.
“When I got to Scranton, they told me they had a slider that they wanted to teach me, so I worked on it for a month straight with (SWB pitching coach) Dustin Glant and (Triple-A righty) Braden Bristo,” Romano revealed Sunday. “The grip is a little tough, so I kept throwing it on the side until I got it down.”
Romano was a starter when he came up through the Reds system, but has been a fastball-heavy reliever the last couple years, and the Yankees saw a chance to develop a reliever with an “out” pitch.
“I think it was my arm angle, from what they said; I used to be a guy where I dropped my arm angle, and when I came back here, I wanted to creep up more to get more downward movement on my ball,” Romano said. “The last year or two, I’ve been missing that swing and miss pitch, and this was definitely something that helped me in Triple-A.”
Romano is no stranger to an MLB mound, pitching 271 innings in parts of five seasons with Cincinnati before he was designated for assignment in mid-May. The righty hooked on with the Yankees, spent two months in Triple-A, and was actually released briefly before re-signing a new minor-league deal.
Four days after he did that, he was on the mound at Fenway Park, added to the roster when Asher Wojciechowski was DFA and thrust into one of the biggest pressure cookers in sports – coming into a Yankees-Red Sox game in the sixth inning, with one on and two outs and the Yankees up 1-0.
A dream come true for a kid who grew up on Long Island a huge Yankees fan, and then moved to his mother’s hometown Southington, CT – almost a Mason-Dixon line, as central CT residents know, for New York vs. Boston fandom – when he was young.
“I took a couple seconds when I got out there to take it all in at first, but I knew there was a job to be done,” Romano said. “It was a dream come true, knowing how big the rivalry is, to come in and try to get some big outs. A cool experience, and something I’ve always dreamed about being a part of. An amazing moment for me and my family.”
His parents, along with his sister and her boyfriend, were there to see Sal’s Yankees debut – two-thirds of an inning with one hit allowed, earning a hold – and his brother was in town for Friday night’s game.
Romano did not pitch that night or in either weekend game, but he’ll be ready to go next time his number is called, no matter the situation.
“Boonie had the confidence in me to go out there and try to get some big outs, which made me feel good. I’ve always been a person who wants the ball regardless of the situation, but to be in a situation like that, a Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway, was a huge confidence boost,” Romano said. “But, I know it’s just one game, and I have to keep moving forward and be ready for the next opportunity.”
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