DETROIT — The plans were already in place for Jordan Romano to get some downtime. He was all set to head back to Toronto, get in the car and drive a couple hours north of the city for a few quiet days at a cottage with his wife and dog.
Instead, he’s going to Seattle, where he’ll represent the Toronto Blue Jays at the All-Star Game for the second season in a row. At Comerica Park Sunday morning, manager John Schneider took a few minutes to tell Romano and his teammates the good news.
“I never thought I’d be in that situation, being among the best of the best,” said the 30-year-old closer. “That was just pretty cool and that’s what I’m most looking forward to again.”
The honour comes after a first half in which Romano saved a league-leading 25 games along with a 2.95 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 36.2 innings. And after warming up but never entering the game a year ago, this time he’d like to pitch.
Regardless, the chance to compare notes with fellow closers appeals to Romano, now in his third year as the Blue Jays closer.
“We have a very unique job that not a lot of other people do, so it was fun picking their brains and seeing how they go about things,” he said.
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A 10th-round pick in the 2014 draft, Romano was initially developed as a starting pitcher before converting to relief full-time in 2019. That was the same year he spent spring training with the Texas Rangers as a Rule 5 draft pick before being returned to the Blue Jays, where he’d soon flourish.
Now, the Markham, Ont., native gets the chance to represent his hometown team on an international stage once again.
“I’m super-pumped,” he said. “All the boys were happy. It’s been a good day so far.”
PROGRESS FOR RYU
Rehabbing left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu pitched 4.0 scoreless innings in a rehab start at low-A Dunedin Sunday, allowing three hits and striking out one. He threw 37 pitches, of which 27 were strikes, and topped out at 88.4 m.p.h.
While predicting timelines for pitchers coming back from Tommy John surgery is imprecise at best, there’s no doubt Ryu’s trending in the right direction.
Toronto GM Ross Atkins has said the Blue Jays would like Ryu to be fully stretched out to 80-100 pitches before he’s activated to the big-league roster, which suggests the 36-year-old will likely need another couple of starts in the minors before he’s a realistic option for the big-league rotation.
After Alek Manoah’s strong start Friday, the Blue Jays have five starters in the rotation again for the first time in a month. Even so, a healthy, effective Ryu would be a welcome addition to any pitching staff.
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ROTATION RESET
The Blue Jays know how they’ll line up their rotation coming out of the All-Star break, but they aren’t sharing the details just yet.
Kevin Gausman will pitch at some point in the opening series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, perhaps in the Friday night opener. Beyond that, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt look like candidates to start as well.
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