The St. Louis Cardinals promoted left-handed pitching prospect Drew Rom to make his MLB debut Monday versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cardinals acquired Rom in exchange for Jack Flaherty at the trade deadline.
I intend to provide plenty of Prospect Check-Ins for the St. Louis Cardinals prospects. Here I will discuss the background of the prospect, their top traits, their current ranking in the Cardinals system, and other news and notes to help the reader better understand the Cardinals prospects.
The fact that Rom is set to make his MLB debut means he is the perfect prospect to kick off this new series here on Tomorrows Baseball.
St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Check-In: Drew Rom
Drew Rom’s Background
High School
Let’s start at the beginning. Rom attended Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, where, in 2018, he earned the honors of “Mr. Baseball” for the state of Kentucky. The Orioles drafted Rom in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Amateur Draft with the 115th overall selection.
2018-2019
Rom excelled in rookie ball during the 2018 season before being promoted to Single-A for the 2019 season. Once again, the young lefty impressed by striking out 11.52 batters per nine innings and allowing just 0.47 home runs per nine.
2020-2021
Unfortunately, like many prospects, Rom did not get to play any games in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021 Rom started in High-A before earning a promotion to Double-A. That season he combined for an 11-1 record in 20 appearances across 107.2 innings. Rom struck out 10.03 batters per nine while allowing 1.00 home runs per nine.
2022
Rom had a more challenging time in 2022 as he split time between Double-A and Triple-A. The lefty made 26 appearances for a combined 120 innings. He allowed a career-high 1.47 walks+ hits per inning and a career-high 4.42 ERA.
Rom still showed promise by striking out 10.8 per nine and allowing 0.75 home runs per nine. During the offseason, the Orioles added Rom to the 40-man roster to protect him from being taken in the Rule 5 Draft.
2023
Until now, Rom spent the entirety of 2023 season in Triple-A, where he once again had a challenging time. In 19 appearances as a member of the Orioles organization, Rom had a .290 batting average against, 4.81 walks per nine, and a 5.34 ERA.
However, Rom has been a dominant force for the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He made two appearances for Triple-A Memphis, where he struck out 18 batters across 11 innings and allowed just two hits for one earned run. This domination practically forced the Cardinals to promote him.
Rom’s Top Traits
From looking at Rom’s minor league numbers, it’s easy to notice that the lefty’s top trait is his ability to strike batters out and limit the long ball (a rare combination). Throughout his entire minor league career he averaged 10.62 strikeouts per nine, and 0.72 home runs per nine. These two statistics are very similar to Dylan Cease (10.60 K/9, 0.88 HR/9), and Kodai Senga (10.69 K/9, 0.83 HR/9).
Now fans shouldn’t expect Rom to be as good as these two players, as it’s always hard for rookie pitchers to acclimate themselves to Major League batting. However, this is an excellent sign and something the Cardinals’ pitching staff could use.
Rom deploys a fastball, slider, and splitter with solid command of each pitch. His fastball sits around 88-92 MPH, according to Fangraphs.
Rom’s Ranking in the St. Louis Cardinals Organization
According to Fangraphs, Rom ranked as the Baltimore Orioles’ 29th prospect at the start of the season. They have not updated their rankings to include Rom on the Cardinals yet.
According to Baseball Savant, Rom currently ranks as the 26th prospect for the Cardinals.
I rank Rom anywhere from 22nd to 25th in the Cardinals system.
Other News and Notes
Unfortunately, there’s always a reason whenever a player gets called up. While Rom wholeheartedly has earned this promotion, he is taking Matthew Libertore’s start after Liberatore reportedly is dealing with back discomfort.
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