JoJo Romero
27-Year-Old
2023 Stats
W-L
4-2
ERA
3.68
WHIP
1.06
K
42
SV
3
2024 Projections
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Romero was unable to win a spot in the Cardinals' bullpen to open the 2023 season, but managed to rapidly ascend the team's late-inning hierarchy upon his recall in early July. The 27-year-old even earned some looks as St. Louis' closer, logging three saves in 27 appearances before left knee tendinitis ended his season in September. While Romero primarily throws a mid-90's sinker to induce ground balls at a near-60 percent clip, he keeps hitters off-balance with an 86 mph changeup (45.3 percent whiff). Not to mention, the southpaw's 53.2 percent whiff rate on his slider was one of the highest in the league for that pitch type. This helped him produce above-average strikeout (28.6%) and walk (6.8%) rates, even if the sample was only 36.2 innings. Romero showed enough last year to continue to fill a high-leverage role for the Cardinals in 2024, but health has been an issue for him throughout his career. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
#598
ADP
Control issues popping up
Romero has allowed two runs on two hits and four walks while striking out three over three Grapefruit League innings.
ANALYSIS
Romero is a candidate to be a key southpaw in the Cardinals' bullpen this season, but he'll need to navigate the control issues popping up in spring games. He had three saves, three holds and two blown saves while pitching to a career-best 3.68 ERA and 1.06 WHIP across 36.2 innings last year. Romero's chances for saves are slim -- he's at best fourth in the pecking order -- but he could be a solid late-innings guy if he can get the walk rate back in order.
Romero is a candidate to be a key southpaw in the Cardinals' bullpen this season, but he'll need to navigate the control issues popping up in spring games. He had three saves, three holds and two blown saves while pitching to a career-best 3.68 ERA and 1.06 WHIP across 36.2 innings last year. Romero's chances for saves are slim -- he's at best fourth in the pecking order -- but he could be a solid late-innings guy if he can get the walk rate back in order.
Pitching Stats
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2023
2022
2021
2020
2023 MLB Game Log
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Minor League Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
20
Last 10 Games
21
Last 5 Games
22
How many pitches does JoJo Romero generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does JoJo Romero generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2021
-47%
BAA vs LHP
2023
-60%
BAA vs LHP
BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Since 2021vs Left | .147 | 27 | 11 | 11 | 2 | |||
Since 2021vs Right | .279 | 40 | 13 | 43 | 6 | |||
2023vs Left | .105 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 0 | |||
2023vs Right | .260 | 30 | 7 | 25 | 1 | |||
2022vs Left | .118 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | |||
2022vs Right | .282 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 2 | |||
2021vs Left | .250 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 1 | |||
2021vs Right | .368 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 3 | |||
More Splits→ | View More Split Stats |
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2021
-8%
ERA at Home
2023
-64%
ERA at Home
ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Since 2021Home | 4.30 | 1.30 | 29.1 | 10.7 | 3.1 | ||||
Since 2021Away | 4.68 | 1.22 | 32.2 | 8.8 | 3.9 | ||||
2023Home | 1.96 | 0.87 | 18.1 | 12.3 | 2.0 | ||||
2023Away | 5.40 | 1.25 | 18.1 | 8.3 | 2.9 | ||||
2022Home | 7.94 | 1.76 | 5.2 | 7.9 | 4.8 | ||||
2022Away | 3.38 | 1.22 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 5.9 | ||||
2021Home | 8.44 | 2.25 | 5.1 | 8.4 | 5.1 | ||||
2021Away | 4.91 | 1.09 | 3.2 | 7.4 | 2.5 | ||||
More Splits→ | View More Split Stats |
Stat Review
How does JoJo Romero compare to other relievers?
This section compares his stats with all relief pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 30 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
4.20K/9
10.3BB/9
2.5HR/9
0.2Fastball
94.8 mphERA
3.68WHIP
1.06BABIP
.313GB/FB
3.93Left On Base
58.5%Exit Velocity
81.6 mphBarrels/BBE
1.3%Spin Rate
2061 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
27.3%Swinging Strike
15.8%Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring JoJo Romero See More
Brad Johnson has moved to the NL Central, and in Cincinnati, Hunter Greene, with one of the biggest arms in baseball, clearly has considerable potential.
James Anderson goes team-by-team to highlight which pitching prospects could ascend to the closer role in the coming years, including A's righty Mason Miller.
Several key reliever signings have shaken up Ryan Rufe's closer rankings, allowing Jhoan Duran to move into the top three.
Ryan Rufe shares his initial closer rankings for 2024, with Raisel Iglesias earning quite a high spot.
2021 Fantasy Outlook
Romero was exclusively a starter in the minors but was a reliever in his debut season last year, appearing 12 times and throwing 10.2 innings. He stumbled to a 7.59 ERA in those innings, but the underlying numbers don't paint nearly such a negative picture of his future. His 3.66 FIP and 3.53 xFIP indicated that he performed just fine, as he combined a slightly below-average 21.3 K% with a strong 4.3 BB% and 50.0% groundball rate. Whether the Phillies keep him in the bullpen or continue to develop him as a starter going forward remains to be seen. If he returns to the rotation, he'll likely need some more seasoning in the minors, as he produced a 6.88 ERA in 13 starts for Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2019. The fact that he throws left-handed may cause the Phillies to elect to keep him in relief, where he'll have an easier path to a big-league role but is unlikely to find himself in a fantasy-relevant job.
More Fantasy News
Agrees to terms
Romero agreed to a one-year contact with the Cardinals on Thursday, avoiding arbitration.
ANALYSIS
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Knee still bothersome
Romero (knee) is still dealing with weakness and instability in his left knee but will throw a bullpen session Sunday, John Denton of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Placed on IL with knee tendinitis
Romero was placed on the 15-day injured list on Monday with left knee patellar tendinitis.
ANALYSIS
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Falters in 10th inning
Romero (4-2) allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk while striking out two over 1.2 innings to take the loss Friday versus the Pirates.
ANALYSIS
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Collects fourth win
Romero (4-1) earned the extra-inning win Tuesday over the Padres, allowing two hits while striking out three and walking none over two scoreless innings.
ANALYSIS
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