Rommie Lewis

As you have heard, there has been a trade involving the Blue Jays and Angels. The Blue Jays will be sending Vernon Wells and cash to the Angels for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera. What you may not know is that immediately following the trade, the Blue Jays designated Rommie Lewis for assignment to make room for their newest additions.

Lewis is an intriguing player. He is a left handed pitcher with a good build at 6’5” 230lb.  At the age of 28 he was originally drafted by the Orioles out of high school in 2001. He was granted free agency in the fall of 2008 and signed with the Blue Jays prior to the season. He is a local Seattle player. He grew up in Seattle and attended Newport High School in Bellevue, WA. Playing in Tacoma and possibly even his hometown of Seattle would certainly appeal to him.

He isn’t a stand out player but he would be bullpen depth for the Mariners and play at AAA or maybe even earn a spot on the big league roster. He has spent a majority of his career in the minors but he got his first taste of big league action in 2010 with the Jays. Throughout his career he has been used primarily as a reliever. His career minor league stats are a 3.94 ERA. His career BB/9 and K/9 are just about average… Nothing special yet nothing alarming.  In his stint with the Jays last year he pitched in 18.2 innings. He was at the big league level from late April to early June and then again in September as a September call-up. After one outing with the Jays in September (a very poor outing) he was sent to the team’s complex in Florida to have his throwing shoulder checked out. This was his last start of the year. His ERA in those 18.2 big league innings was 6.75. He also struck 15 batters in the short amount of time which is something to note.

Lewis does not have outstanding stuff but he shows some promise. A fastball in the mid 90s with a sharp slider to complement it. I’ve also read that he throws his change up well. He has good mechanics and is also somewhat deceptive with his delivery. The biggest struggle for him is his command. He really struggles locating his pitches especially his breaking balls. He is ok against left handed batters but he has struggled against righties. Another thing to note is that he has troubles keeping the ball in the park. As I have mentioned before, Safeco really helps pitchers keep the ball in the park, and that is no different for Lewis.  If he can improve his command he could very possibly be an average middle reliever.

Lewis has not been very impressive, which shows why he was designated for assignment. He could still very possibly turn it around and help another team out. That team could possibly be the Mariners. Why not take a chance on him? It’s always good to have more left handed reliever depth which is what Lewis would provide. It would not be a huge risk to acquire him at all. He would certainly be cheap and if things don’t go well then you can either leave him at AAA or cut him. Lewis was designated for assignment January 21^st therefore the Jays have until January 31^st before the DFA window closes. The Mariners are pretty thin when it comes to left handed relievers so again… why not take a chance on Rommie Lewis?