Toronto Blue Jays: Tough luck timing for Jordan Romano

Things were looking good for Jordan Romano to break camp with the Blue Jays this month, and he’ll have to try and pick up where he left off when baseball eventually resumes.

It’s very strange that we went from a televised game on Thursday to a complete break in the Spring Training schedule, but when the world turns upside down because a legitimate health scare, baseball suddenly becomes pretty secondary.

It’s an unfortunate situation in many different ways, and one of those is how it’ll effect some players who were looking to earn a big league job this month. For the Blue Jays, Jordan Romano has been pitching well and riding some momentum as we barrelled toward Opening Day. Now, it’s hard to say what will happen, or how things could change by the time baseball resumes.

Through five appearances and a total of five innings during Grapefruit League action, Romano has been very impressive. He’s only allowed three hits, has yet to allow a run, and opponents are hitting just .176 against him thus far. He’s also posted six strikeouts, a 0.60 WHIP, and has been touching 97-98 on the radar gun. If the Canadian pitcher had written the script, this is pretty much how things would have gone.

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Now that baseball has come to a stop, at least for now, Romano will be among the big leaguers wondering how to approach things. Sure, all MLB player will continue to work out and stay as prepared as they can, but the key for someone who has been performing as effectively as Romano will be trying to hang on to the momentum, and especially in the case of a pitcher, make sure he maintains the effective delivery he’s used so far.

To his credit, Romano understands that this is likely a necessary step for the league, even if it doesn’t help him in his own immediate situation. According to an article from the Toronto Star’s Laura Armstrong:

"“First and foremost it’s just keeping people safe … just thinking my grandparents were down here a week ago and they’re still in Florida, so it’s just thinking of the older population and stuff like that. It’s definitely the right thing to do.”"

It sounds like players around the league understand and mostly support the decision to stop play for the time being, even if it puts a big disruption into a sport that’s so reliant on timing and consistency.

Hopefully the break for baseball will be short-lived, and ideally Romano will be able to pick up where he left off when things resume. The Markham native was looking like a lock to make the Jays’ bullpen with his performance so far, and it would be a shame if that opportunity gets wiped out, even if it ends up coming a little late.