Toronto Blue Jays: 2022 – High School Yearbook Awards

Most Likely To Be Prime Minister: Jordan Romano

This one’s a little limited since there really aren’t that many players that could even qualify for this, but he deserves it nonetheless. Also, Prime Minister might be a bit of a stretch, but Jordan Romano is almost a bona fide national hero after the past two seasons he’s had. In 2021, Romano pitched 63 innings with a 2.14 ERA, and his 2022 campaign was virtually identical, as he posted a 2.11 ERA in 64 innings. Over these two seasons, he’s established himself as one of baseball’s top closers, and his 59 saves over that stretch are the third most in the AL. Not only that, but he’s been almost untouchable in Canada, as he only let up four earned runs in 32.2 innings pitched at the Rogers Centre last season, which was good for a 1.10 ERA.

To put this dominance from a Canadian in perspective, he already has the seventh most saves in MLB history amongst Canadian-born players and leads Jays pitchers by a mile (or kilometre since this bit is Canadian-themed). This stat’s a bit more cherry-picked, but he also has the lowest ERA of any Canadian-born pitcher with at least 100 innings pitched in Major League history at 2.58. Outside of all the stats though, Romano’s impact is clearly huge. This is the first time in a while that the Blue Jays have had a closer that really felt like “the guy”, and to have him be from the GTA only makes it cooler. He feels like an integral part of this team and while being elected Prime Minister may be a bit tricky, maybe he could start at running for Mayor and see where it goes from there.