Prospect Drew Rom thrilled to open Orioles’ ‘coming-out year’ as starter for first spring game

Starting the first game of spring training is not the glamorous assignment pitching on baseball’s true opening day is. That doesn’t mean left-handed prospect Drew Rom isn’t thrilled to get the opportunity Saturday for the Orioles.

“Huge confidence boost,” Rom, 23, said Thursday after manager Brandon Hyde named him Baltimore’s starter for Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener against the Minnesota Twins. “Them having the confidence in me to go out there and establish kind of that first day, first game, first pitch — everything starts from there, and I think for me, that’s a big thing. They trust me to go out there and really start everything and kind of get the fans, the team, everything going.”

Baseball America ranks Rom as the Orioles’ No. 24 prospect, ninth among pitchers, and although he’s one of the dozen candidates for Baltimore’s five season-opening rotation spots, he’s perhaps the least likely member of that group to receive one. Top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez, taken 11th overall and three rounds before Rom in the 2018 draft, is the only other candidate yet to pitch in the majors.

But after ending last season in Triple-A — an experience that taught him “where not to throw the ball,” he said with a laugh — Rom believes he’s positioned to reach the majors at some point this year. Saturday’s outing could pave the way for a large group of prospects to arrive in Baltimore.

“Honestly, it’s almost like a party in here now,” Rom said of the talent in the Orioles’ clubhouse. “I think everyone can feel that energy and feel that this is kind of our coming-out year, almost. Not necessarily saying that last year wasn’t. Last year kind of took everyone by surprise, and now this year, we’re poised to do the same thing again and do a little bit better.

“I think the talent will speak for itself this year.”

Entering last season, coaches in the organization consistently pointed to Rom as one of the system’s most underrated players. He then led Orioles minor leaguers with 120 innings and 144 strikeouts and started three more games (25) than anyone else in the farm system. Working with a low-90s fastball, Rom had a 4.43 ERA between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk, but in seven starts after the promotion, his strikeout-to-walk ratio fell by more than one.

The experience gave him insight on “the approach the big leaguers are gonna have.”

“All those guys either had big league time or are about to be there,” Rom said. “Seeing the more professional approach rather than, like, the prospect approach, they wait for the pitch, they think every single pitch ahead. It’s wild to me, but for me, it was definitely figuring out how to pitch against big league hitters.”

He’s confident this will be the season he get face them for real. He spent this offseason honing his mechanics as part of a program from the Orioles combined with insights from Tread Athletics in North Carolina.

Rom said his tweaks might not necessarily show up in his fastball velocity, but he believes the pitch will be more “explosive.” Paired with what he also thinks will be improved control, he could position himself to be someone the Orioles turn to this season, even if only for a spot start or bullpen help.

“I control what I can,” Rom said. “I’ve done all I can this offseason to do to even increase [velocity] a little bit. For me, I felt like my fastball has gotten a lot more explosive, maybe not velo, but I feel like it just has gotten a lot better just in terms of my mechanics and just being actually explosive through the ball, rather than just really kind of just trying to place it.

“Trying to just move fast and move hard to throw hard. I think that’s the biggest thing was just quit being so scared of trying to throw hard.”

Rom noted the Orioles’ clubhouse offers him two examples of left-handers who have had success in the major leagues despite lacking premier velocity. John Means and Cole Irvin both throw fastballs averaging between 90 and 93 mph, according to Baseball Savant; Means was an All-Star in 2019 and threw a no-hitter in 2021 before undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery last season, while only 13 pitchers have thrown more innings than Irvin over the past two years.

“Seeing those guys that are kind of my ‘stereotype’ almost get out there and succeed … has really helped my confidence,” Rom said. “Seeing that I don’t need to throw 100 or whatever, I can go out and do my thing, and if velo comes, velo comes, but I’ve had success doing what I can do right now.”

That success has come with an intriguing approach: changing arm slots depending on the handedness of the batter. Rom began to occasionally drop down as a high schooler in Kentucky, but when Chris Holt — then the Orioles’ minor league pitching coordinator and now their major league pitching coach — saw him do it at an instructional camp after the 2019 season, he suggested Rom integrate that approach into games.

Typically, Rom has reserved the look for lefties, but he said he started to use it against right-handers last season, which he said “really turned a lot of heads and turned my pitching around.” He also simplified his repertoire, reducing usage of his changeup and curveball to more frequently deploy his splitter and slider.

On Saturday, Rom will be the first Oriole to throw a pitch in a game in 2023. Regardless of what slot it comes from, he’s looking forward to what it represents, for both him and the team.

Spring training opener

Twins at Orioles

At Sarasota, Florida

Saturday, 1:05 p.m.

()