Twins to call up pitching prospect Fernando Romero

Huge news was just announced by the Minnesota Twins as they will be calling up starting pitcher Fernando Romero to start Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Romero, 23, was off to a solid start in his first taste of Triple-A, pitching to a 2.57 ERA (3.73 FIP) over 21 innings (four appearances, three starts) in Rochester. Though his career started slowly back in 2012, he has rocketed from Single-A back in 2016 to the majors.

He will be displacing Phil Hughes, who has continued to look horrendous since returning from the disabled list. Hughes, who is in the second-to-last year of his contract, had allowed 6 runs in 7 innings while allowing a .333 batting average over two starts. Hughes will remain on the roster though, as he will shift to the bullpen as a long reliever. This means that someone else will be losing their roster spot and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the end of the line for Matt Magill, who threw 2 ¹⁄₃ innings on Sunday. However, another candidate would be Trevor Hildenberger, as he has looked like anything but the solid reliever that he was last season and some time in the minors would be good for him to sort out his issues.

Based off scouting reports, Romero sounds a bit like another Jose Berrios. With a fastball that easily sits in the mid-90s, along with a high-80s slider, he appears to be another pitcher that has the ability to sit atop the rotation for years to come. Of course, his current goal is much more modest, as he just needs to pitch better than Hughes.

Romero has not been officially added to the roster yet, as I bet the Twins will wait until after Tuesday’s game to make the transaction.