Romano to Start At Billings

[KentuckyHillbil]

"The 6-foot-5 flamethrower said he has been pitching great since arriving in Goodyear, Ariz. on March 1.

“My past three outings I have had 15 strikeouts, and have given up seven hits and two runs,” Romano said. “I’m not sure where I will be in the rotation, but it doesn’t matter as long as I made the team.”

“Right now I’m just hoping to have a great season for Billings,” Romano said. “(Single-A) Dayton is my next goal, but I’m just focused on Billings.”

link for complete article: http://www.myrecordjournal.com/sport...9bb2963f4.html

[lollipopcurve]

I've been plugging this guy since the offseason prospect rankings. They gave him almost half a million to sign last summer. Big, strong kid with a good fastball.

[Benihana]

Me too. I like this guy and think he's frequently overlooked from last year's draft class. Hopefully he turns out better than Josh Ravin.

Billings rotation:

Stephenson
Cisco
Guillon
Romano
Moscot?

[mace]

Me too. I like this guy and think he's frequently overlooked from last year's draft class. Hopefully he turns out better than Josh Ravin.

Billings rotation:

Stephenson
Cisco
Guillon
Romano
Moscot?

Pretty interesting. There's also Mugarian, Amezcua, Beard, possibly one or two or three up from the DSL/VSL (Peralta? Gonzalez? Guzman?); and what's the status of Mitchell Clarke?

[redsof72]

They like Bender quite a bit. He will be a starter somewhere. Guillon...some have suggested converting him to the outfield, believe it or not.

[mace]

They like Bender quite a bit. He will be a starter somewhere. Guillon...some have suggested converting him to the outfield, believe it or not.

Seems like when Guillon was signed, there was debate as to whether he should be a pitcher or hitter.

[corkedbat]

Billings:

Robert Stephenson
Sal Ramano
Ishmail Guillon (L)
Mitchell Clarke
Wes Mugarian
Joel Bender (L)

Goodyear:

Nick Travieso
Dan Langfield
Amir Garrett (L)
Drew Cisco
Carlos Gonzalez
Jon Moscot
Mason Felt (L)

There are several other possibilities also. I'm kind of excited to se the finished Billings & Goodyear rosters when they come out. tomorrow or Sunday.

[lollipopcurve]

Glad to hear Bender is raising his status. They need a few lefthanded starters with promise on the farm. And homegrown product is always appreciated, of course.

Guillon fell off a cliff (that was a mound) last year. Maybe pair him with YRod in the OF in Billings. As I recall, they were buddies when signed out of VZ.

[dougdirt]

Glad to hear Bender is raising his status. They need a few lefthanded starters with promise on the farm. And homegrown product is always appreciated, of course.

Guillon fell off a cliff (that was a mound) last year. Maybe pair him with YRod in the OF in Billings. As I recall, they were buddies when signed out of VZ.

Guillen was very strong over his final 5 starts last year. He really struggled the first 10 though.

[mace]

This may be naive and unrealistic, but wouldn't it make some sense to let a good-hitting pitcher like (presumably) Guillon get some extra work and swings in the low minors? Maybe cut his pitching back to every eighth day or so and give him an occasional start in the outfield or wherever. Have him take extra hitting in the spring. Field some fly balls. Just in the event . . .

You wouldn't want to do it with a first- or second-rounder--at least, not right off the bat--but for a guy like Guillon, to whom throwing strikes has not come naturally . . .

[dougdirt]

This may be naive and unrealistic, but wouldn't it make some sense to let a good-hitting pitcher like (presumably) Guillon get some extra work and swings in the low minors? Maybe cut his pitching back to every eighth day or so and give him an occasional start in the outfield or wherever. Have him take extra hitting in the spring. Field some fly balls. Just in the event . . .

You wouldn't want to do it with a first- or second-rounder--at least, not right off the bat--but for a guy like Guillon, to whom throwing strikes has not come naturally . . .

Not really, no. You want to keep his head in one place.

He really struggled to throw strikes last year, but he showed dramatic improvement in the last month of the year.

9 walks and 24 strikeouts in 103 batters faced.

The rest of the season saw this: 37 and 37 in 205 batters faced.

Something clearly changed. I am sure that the Reds know what it was and like what they saw.

[Benihana]

Billings:

Robert Stephenson
Sal Ramano
Ishmail Guillon (L)
Mitchell Clarke
Wes Mugarian
Joel Bender (L)

Goodyear:

Nick Travieso
Dan Langfield
Amir Garrett (L)
Drew Cisco
Carlos Gonzalez
Jon Moscot
Mason Felt (L)

There are several other possibilities also. I'm kind of excited to se the finished Billings & Goodyear rosters when they come out. tomorrow or Sunday.

I will be pretty disappointed if Langfield starts in the AZL. I think you could make a good argument for him to start in Dayton, or Billings at a minimum.

Ditto for Drew Cisco.

[texasdave]

I wonder where Vaughn Covington fits into the mix?

[RiverRat13]

It's obviously a very small sample, but Romano's start to the season is very encouraging:

38 IP, 9.79 K/9, 2.13 BB/9 (4.56 K/BB).

[Benihana]

It's obviously a very small sample, but Romano's start to the season is very encouraging:

38 IP, 9.79 K/9, 2.13 BB/9 (4.56 K/BB).

Wow. Digging up a minor league thread from four years ago. Well played!