Meet a Prospect: Austin Romine

One of the latest September call ups to come out of the Yankees farm system was catcher Austin Romine, a familiar face to most Yankees fans. Romine feels like he has been inside the Yankees farm system forever, and in terms of prospects I guess he has been since he’s exhausted all his minor league options, and will benefit this month from the Yankees preference to call up a third catcher every September. It looked set in stone that Gary Sanchez was set to make his first trip to the big leagues in 2015 before a hamstring injury possibly ended his season last week opening the door to the Bronx once again for Romine. Can he take advantage of the opportunity and show some of the promise and poise behind the plate that once made him one of the best Yankees prospects in their farm system?

Austin Allen Romine was born on November 22, 1988 in Lake Forest, California to a family that has baseball running through their veins. Austin’s father, Kevin, played Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox from 1985 to 1991 while his brother, Andrew, is currently a shortstop inside the Detroit Tigers organization. Romine began his push towards the majors by attending El Toro High School in Lake Forest where he played alongside current Colorado Rockies infielder Nolan Arenado on the school’s baseball team. Romine heard the Yankees come calling in the second round of the 2007 Major League Baseball First Year Players Draft and quickly signed on with New York.

Romine climbed all the way to become the Yankees 4^th best prospect according to Baseball American in 2009 and the team’s 2^nd best prospect in 2010 as he began to garner recognition across the league for his play. Romine was named the Florida State League Player of the Year in 2009 and capped that off with an All-Star Futures Game appearance in 2010 which both led to the young catcher competing for the backup catcher’s job in spring training 2011. Romine did not win the job out of spring but was called up to Triple-A in September of that season before making his Major League debut just two weeks later.

Romine could not build on the momentum he built during the 2012 season after missing most of the campaign with two bulging discs in his back. Romine was back in the Major Leagues in 2013 after an injury to Francisco Cervelli on April 26, 2013 and spent most of the season with the big league club before suffering a concussion in September of that season. Romine had not done enough to win the job from Cervelli during spring training camp in 2014 and was sent back to Triple-A where the over-grooming began for the young catcher. Romine was called up again during the 2014 season but lasted just a week before being sent back to Scranton to make room for starting pitcher Shane Greene. Romine spent the entire 2014 bouncing back and forth between Scranton and the Bronx before being designated for assignment by the club before the 2015 season.

Romine was off the 40 man roster and down in Triple-A trying to earn his way back to the Major Leagues after losing out on the backup job in spring training to John Ryan Murphy. It looked as if Romine had lost his job to injury when the Yankees called up Gary Sanchez late in the 2015 season to replace him but Romine stayed on the roster and Juan Graterol drew the short straw and the free ride off the club’s roster. Romine has worked hard all season and will finally be rewarded for it as a September call up for the Yankees this season. Much like his entire career this call up could be entirely temporary, he could get designated for assignment when Sanchez is deemed healthy and presumably called up, but if history is any indicator of the future Romine will work his tail off and make the best of this call up like he has with every other opportunity he has had in his career. Welcome back Austin, go get em!