3 relievers the St. Louis Cardinals might pursue post-lockout

Sergio Romo

Sergio Romo has been in the majors for 14 years and spent last season with the Oakland A’s.

Romo has had a lot of success as a reliever. For his career, he is 42-35 with 137 saves in 704.2 innings. He’s thrown 775 strikeouts. For the A’s, he was 1-1 in 2021 with three saves in 61.2 innings. He threw 60 strikeouts.

In 2021, Romo had a 22% put-away rate with his slider. The pitch averaged 77 mph with 38.3-inches of vertical drop and a 49% active spin rate. Romo also uses a sinker, changeup, and a four-seam fastball. Romo’s changeup is his pitch with the most movement, averaging 80.2 mph with a 99% active spin rate. The pitch generates a 41% whiff rate. Romo’s sinker averages 85.5 mph with an active spin of 86%, The four-seam fastball averages 85.6 mph with an 81% active spin.

Romo, 38, still has pretty good off-speed pitches that would be great to have available in late-inning situations. It would be interesting to see how he would adapt to pitching in St. Louis for the summer.