Phillies Post-2016 Top Prospect Rankings: 26-30
By John Town
No. 27: Left-Handed Pitcher JoJo Romero
JoJo Romero is the first player from this year’s draft featured on this list. The Phillies picked up Romero in the fourth round and signed him to a $800,000 bonus. Romero went to Yavapai College in Arizona, the same school that former Phillies Ken Giles and Curt Schilling went to.
Romero started his professional career well with short-season Williamsport. He went 2-2 in ten starts, logging 45.2 innings. The lefty carried a 2.56 ERA with a 1.20 WHIP and opposing hitters had a .251 batting average against him.
The register also shows Romero had a complete game shutout, but it came in a rain-shortened game July 31. Romero threw five innings, allowing two hits and three walks while also hitting a batter.
Prior to the draft, Romero ranked No. 158 on Baseball America’s Top 500 and No. 124 on MLB.com’s Top 200 draft rankings. MLB.com’s report liked what Romero has to offer on the mound:
"“Romero has a four-pitch mix that he knows how to use effectively. He’ll throw both a two- and four-seam fastball, with the former sitting in the 89-91 mph range and the latter touching 94-95 mph at times. While his curveball was his best secondary pitch at the start of his spring, his slider and changeup have improved and perhaps surpassed the curve at this point. He is capable of throwing all of his pitches for strikes.”"
While Romero’s arsenal is solid, there are questions about what his future role could be. His command isn’t great and he his rather small for a pitcher at 5’11. For now, the Phillies will develop Romero in the rotation, hoping he can be a back-end starter.