San Francisco Giants: Why Sergio Romo Is the Most Reliable Reliever in Baseball
Every team has a lot of relievers, and all of them know their job and know how to get tough outs. However, some relievers stand head-and-shoulders above the pack.
Aroldis Chapman is one of those guys. David Robertson is one of those guys. And Sergio Romo is one of those guys.
Romo had his share of struggles during San Francisco's World Series season in 2010, but he was amazing in 2011. His nasty slider fools hitters and has incredible movement, and his changeup isn't too bad either.
With an ERA of 0.60 and a WHIP of 0.87, you can tell Romo is dominating in 2012 as well.
He has 20 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched, which gives him an average of 12 strikeouts per nine innings. His slider always fools hitters by going right down the middle and curving out of the strike zone at the last second.
The ball usually goes out of the reach of the bat and into the catcher's mitt for strike three. If the hitter is lucky enough to make contact, the result is usually a weak ground ball or pop-up.
Romo also has a nice changeup, which tends to dip under someone's unlucky bat a lot. His main three pitches all look the same, but one stays straight, one moves nastily to the left and one moves down nastily.
If a hitter is lucky, they get a hit. However, Romo has only given up eight hits this year, and while he's walked five guys, he rarely hurts the team. He's only given up one run this entire year.
In San Francisco's past two games against the Cubs, Romo has come up big. He's recorded three key outs for the Giants, and as a result, he picked up his first two saves of the year.
Is Sergio Romo The Most Reliable Reliever In Baseball?
With two outs in Saturday's game, Romo got ahead of Alfonso Soriano before forcing him to weakly ground out to shortstop, a result that has become common to hitters against Romo. San Francisco picked up their fifth win in their last six games.
On Sunday, Romo came in with Darwin Barney on first and one out. He was facing Starlin Castro, Chicago's dangerous young hitter. Again, he got ahead of the count with some nasty sliders, and he finished off Castro with an unhittable changeup.
Soriano stepped to the plate with two outs, and Romo got ahead of the count yet again. Soriano made solid contact, but his hit went right to Romo, who fielded the grounder and threw to first.
Game over. Giants win.
Throughout his career, Bruce Bochy has given the ball to Sergio Romo in the eighth or ninth inning to get clutch outs. And throughout his career, Romo has overpowered the game's best hitters with his two nasty pitches, which have elevated him to the elite reliever class in the MLB.
Whenever you need Romo, he is always there. It's very hard to make contact against him, and when you do, the result is usually a weak grounder or a shallow pop-up. In the past year-and-a-half, Romo has established himself as the most reliable reliever in baseball.
And with the way he's going, it doesn't look like he'll slow down anytime soon.
Aroldis Chapman is one of those guys. David Robertson is one of those guys. And Sergio Romo is one of those guys.
Romo had his share of struggles during San Francisco's World Series season in 2010, but he was amazing in 2011. His nasty slider fools hitters and has incredible movement, and his changeup isn't too bad either.
With an ERA of 0.60 and a WHIP of 0.87, you can tell Romo is dominating in 2012 as well.
He has 20 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched, which gives him an average of 12 strikeouts per nine innings. His slider always fools hitters by going right down the middle and curving out of the strike zone at the last second.
The ball usually goes out of the reach of the bat and into the catcher's mitt for strike three. If the hitter is lucky enough to make contact, the result is usually a weak ground ball or pop-up.
Romo also has a nice changeup, which tends to dip under someone's unlucky bat a lot. His main three pitches all look the same, but one stays straight, one moves nastily to the left and one moves down nastily.
If a hitter is lucky, they get a hit. However, Romo has only given up eight hits this year, and while he's walked five guys, he rarely hurts the team. He's only given up one run this entire year.
In San Francisco's past two games against the Cubs, Romo has come up big. He's recorded three key outs for the Giants, and as a result, he picked up his first two saves of the year.
Is Sergio Romo The Most Reliable Reliever In Baseball?
With two outs in Saturday's game, Romo got ahead of Alfonso Soriano before forcing him to weakly ground out to shortstop, a result that has become common to hitters against Romo. San Francisco picked up their fifth win in their last six games.
On Sunday, Romo came in with Darwin Barney on first and one out. He was facing Starlin Castro, Chicago's dangerous young hitter. Again, he got ahead of the count with some nasty sliders, and he finished off Castro with an unhittable changeup.
Soriano stepped to the plate with two outs, and Romo got ahead of the count yet again. Soriano made solid contact, but his hit went right to Romo, who fielded the grounder and threw to first.
Game over. Giants win.
Throughout his career, Bruce Bochy has given the ball to Sergio Romo in the eighth or ninth inning to get clutch outs. And throughout his career, Romo has overpowered the game's best hitters with his two nasty pitches, which have elevated him to the elite reliever class in the MLB.
Whenever you need Romo, he is always there. It's very hard to make contact against him, and when you do, the result is usually a weak grounder or a shallow pop-up. In the past year-and-a-half, Romo has established himself as the most reliable reliever in baseball.
And with the way he's going, it doesn't look like he'll slow down anytime soon.
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