Romine Improving

When Austin Romine first came up to the Yankees after Francisco Cervelli's injury it was thought that he would split time with Chris Stewart and be given an opportunity to supplant him.

However, Romine did absolutely nothing to warrant playing time, and Stewart ended up taking the full time job. At the end of June, Romine's slash line was .145/.159/.194/.352. Now the tide has turned, and Romine should be getting more playing time than Stewart. Stewart just seems to have completely worn down, as he hit .148 with a .416 OPS in July.

Meanwhile, over his last 28 plate appearances, Romine's is hitting .416 with 4 doubles and a home run. His approach has looked great and Romine is hitting a lot of balls back up the middle where they came from. Very few of his hits have been cheap, so he is making some hard contact. He has looked very good behind the plate as well, as he has thrown out 30% of runners trying to steal this season.

Obviously, this is a small sample size, but with the fact that the Yankees chances of making the playoffs are slim to none, and Stewart is terrible, the Yankees should see what Romine can do as the starting catcher over the last two months.

 

All that's really left for this season is to evaluate for next season, and the starting catchers spot is wide open. It would be ideal if the Yankees signed Brian McCann in the offseason, but if that does not happen Romine could be considered a cheap option if he does well through the end of the season. The Yankees need to see what they have in him.

Romine's career minor league slash line of .280/.334/.414/.748 indicate that he probably does not have a good enough bat to be considered a good starting catcher. However, at this point the Yankees really have nothing to lose and stranger things have happened.

With Joe Girardi giving Romine a second consecutive start tonight he might agree that it is time to give Romine a shot for the rest of the season. If that is the case, he will definitely be a player to watch to see if his success is just a flash in the pan or if it's sustainable.