By Blake Murphy	Baseball, Feature, Vice
Ricky Romero Is Determined to Make an Improbable Comeback to the Majors
Title: Ricky Romero Is Determined to Make an Improbable Comeback to the Majors
Original Source: Vice
Synopsis: For my latest at Vice, I wrote about Ricky Romero, whose injury struggles – mental and physical – are behind him as he attempts to make a comeback.
Ricky Romero wakes up to the same message every morning.
"I will pitch in the big leagues in 2018," says an audio recording of himself that serves as his phone's alarm clock.
It's a stretch goal, to be sure. Once the No. 6 overall pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2005 draft, Romero last pitched in the majors in 2013. Last season, he was released from a minor-league contract by the San Francisco Giants and later, at his request, by the Tijuana Toros of the independent Mexican League. Still, Romero has found his way back to a headspace where he's waking up with a positive mantra each morning, and more importantly, to where he's enjoying pitching again.
Getting there has not been easy.
For so long, a long-term major league future seemed a certainty. Romero debuted with the Blue Jays in 2009, throwing 178 innings and looking every bit the promising rookie his draft pedigree suggested he could be. A strong 2010 followed, with Romero establishing himself as something of a workhorse, and 2011 saw him earn his first All-Star nod, an American League Pitcher of the Month award, and two down-ballot votes for the Cy Young. Armed with a changeup that often baffled hitters, the southpaw fashioned a 2.92 ERA over 225 innings, and even if some over-performance relative to peripherals could be priced in, it seemed the Jays had a rotation anchor for years to come.
Continue reading at Vice.
@CameronASM Eh, it's a 30-point game, it's hard to iron that stuff out when it becomes a pick-up run 1 minute ago
Raptors win, tie franchise record with 140 points, play nobody over 30min on first night of back-to-back. Tidy work. 26 minutes ago
Raptors 905 get back in the win column,beating Canton 123-114. Ennis with 35-6-7 (!) on 16/21 (!!), Brissett 21-5-… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 41 minutes ago
@_MChino89 Yes but only a 1-year max. 43 minutes ago
Gasol+bench is +11 in 12:30. 43 minutes ago
Gasol whisper-singing a different Rosalia song in each defender's ear as he bangs 3s on them. 51 minutes ago
@loreopoulos Kirilenko didn't 5x5 every time out, trust the process 53 minutes ago
Gasol is a big 'haircut/beard trim as harbinger of play' guy. 56 minutes ago
@duncankinney It's possible they add him at some point, although they wouldn't cut McCaw, likely just shift his rol… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 hour ago
The Raptors have never turned a team over 30 times in a game. As Eric says, let us go. twitter.com/ekoreen/status… 1 hour ago
@kelsea_lately first the cookie boost, now this. They need to roster you. 1 hour ago
@bobbyhavvoc Well explained by Daniel here: twitter.com/dhackett1565/s… 1 hour ago
@bobbyhavvoc I would say 'coincidental' is the operative word there, though I do think he gets to be more of a disr… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 hour ago
Elsewhere, Tyler Ennis is turning in a second consecutive unbelievable performance for Raptors 905. The mini-slump… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 hour ago
@dhackett1565 I thought the dip was overstated, too. I think maybe because they were scheming around being so thinn… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 hour ago