2017 Draft Preview: Seth Romero

RHP Seth Romero (formerly University of Houston): 6'3", 240 lbs, born 4/19/1996.

Overview

Fastball: 60. Slider: 60. Changeup: 55. Control: 50.

Here we are, looking at the biggest wild card in the draft. Seth Romero is really, really good. So good, in fact, that on talent alone, he would be a near-lock for the first half of the first round, possibly even a top ten pick. However, he has been suspended from the University of Houston baseball team twice, and in May, he was permanently expelled from the program after what was reportedly a fight with a teammate, leaving his draft status as up in the air as any player this year. When he's on the mound, Romero looks like a safe bet to start in the major leagues, with some top of the rotation upside, so there's pretty much no telling where he'll end up in this year's draft. He could still be a top 20 pick, or he could fall out of the top 40 or so. We'll just have to wait and see.

Strengths
Romero has a classic starting pitchers' profile; he throws in the low to mid 90's with a repeatable delivery, and his low to mid 80's slider is a devastating secondary. He's even coming along with a solid changeup that generates its fair share of whiffs, giving him a major league arsenal that won't take much developing. This has been very apparent on the mound at Houston, where he finished his career with a 2.43 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP, and a 290/70 strikeout to walk ratio over 226.1 innings. He struck out nearly two batters per inning in 2017, racking up 85 in just 48.2 innings before his expulsion. He was also said to be in better physical shape this year. If he can keep himself on the mound and out of trouble, Romero is a potential frontline, workhorse starter.

Weaknesses
Oh boy. Here we go. Romero was suspended from the Houston Cougars baseball team as a sophomore last year for "conduct detrimental to the team," and was suspended again this year for reportedly posing for a picture with a bong in full uniform. Not long after he returned from that suspension, he reportedly got into a physical exchange with a teammate, and the athletics department decided it had had enough with him no matter his talent, expelling him from the program. This is especially disappointing because of optimistic fall reports. After two years of an "indifferent approach to conditioning," he was said to have come to campus for his junior year in much better shape and "a model citizen." Obviously, he still has a lot of work to do off the field. This is one name certainly worth watching on draft day.