Meet A Prospect : Austin Romine

With September call ups and an expanded active roster on the way I thought it would be a good time to look at the prospects that we have on the 40 man roster that may not be household names. We will continue our series with AAA affiliate Empire State Yankees catching prospect Austin Romine.

Austin Allen Romine was born on November 22nd 1988 in Lake Forest California. Austin Romine has major league blood running through his veins with his father, Kevin Romine, being a former Boston Red Sox for 6 seasons. His brother, Andrew Romine, also currently plays for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Austin was drafted out of El Toro High School to the New York Yankees in the second round in the 2007 MLB First Years Players Draft. 

Austin has been highly touted in the Yankees system being ranked as high as the Yankees second best prospect in 2010 and fourth best in 2009. In that same 2009 season Austin was named Florida State League Player of the Year and was a member of the American All Star Futures team in 2010. He has been linked with former Yankees super hitting prospect Jesus Montero and spent most of his time splitting time behind the dish with him before Montero was traded this winter. 

Austin Romine has flashed some good power as a catcher, something you do not see enough of, and has shown that he will be no slouch with the bat in the majors. Austin Romine hits the ball to all parts of the field and even has 15-20 home run power in the majors in my opinion. His defense is considered to be a little behind the curve compared to his bat with a great ability to handle balls in the dirt but an average arm. There are many question marks about his ability to handle a big league staff on a consistent basis but that kind of stuff can be taught. He has below average speed so he will not be stealing any bases but he is still quicker then Jesus Montero if that counts for anything. 

I really think that Austin Romine could be a above average catcher in the major leagues and I really think the plan is for that to be with the Yankees. He lost most of his season due to a back injury in spring training which, in my opinion, is what brought on the Chris Stewart trade or he would have been in the majors as a back up THIS season. He does not have a huge glaring hole in his game whatsoever and has a long career ahead of him in my opinion. If I had to find a guy to compare Austin Romine to I think I would have to go with a .280 hitting catcher with power named John Buck. 

Austin will be going to the Arizona Fall League this season so he looks to be healthy and back on the fast track to the majors as soon as 2013.