Romero settling into post-pitching life

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This article was published 04/07/2019 (2313 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ricky Romero’s first waking thoughts no longer focus on working his way back to the big leagues.

The notification on his phone — a short, simple promise to himself to get it done — was deleted a year ago, and he communicated his change of plans to the rest of the world on New Year’s Eve.

Now, the former Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher begins each day getting his two young sons, Sebastian and Diego, ready for the day in Hermosa Beach, Calif., and splitting up the household chores with his wife, former Canadian soccer star Kara Lang.

Romero, whose fall from grace remains one of the most stunning chapters in the long saga of Canada’s only Major League Baseball squad, professes he’s entirely at peace with retirement.

“Absolutely, 100 per cent, I’m comfortable with my decision. But it took awhile. It wasn’t easy,” Romero said during a phone interview Thursday with the Free Press. “I miss the competition and clubhouse camaraderie but not all the preparation, not the workouts to try and get back.”

The former all-star, now 34, will be at Winnipeg’s Whittier Park next week as part of the Blue Jays Baseball Academy, a two-day (July 10-11) baseball camp for kids ages nine to 16. Romero will be joined by fellow Blue Jays alumni Lloyd Moseby and Homer Bush.

Romero, one of the Jays’ brightest young stars when he was drafted in 2005, spent eight years with the organization and pitched with the big club for parts of five seasons. His best year was 2011, when the left-hander registered a career-best 15-11 record with a 2.92 earned-run average (ERA), and received an invitation to the all-star game and a handful of Cy Young votes as the American League’s top pitcher.

A long and successful future in Toronto seemed a certainty — and he was given a five-year contract extension (in 2010) worth well over US$25 million as a sign of the club’s faith in him.

No one could have envisioned his career completely derailing. By 2013, he was buried in the minors, the beginning of what would be five torturous years attempting to rediscover his stuff in the Toronto and San Francisco Giants organizations, along with a short stay with the Tijuana Toros of the independent Mexican League, on surgically repaired legs that no longer wanted to co-operate.

Yet, he refused to give in and, as recently as late 2017, he’d rise daily to a message from himself on his phone.

“Obviously, the competitor in me wanted to keep going, but I also saw how baseball was trending and how hard it was to get a job. I went in front of 25 scouts and did not get one phone call. But I still maintained the hope that somebody would sign me and then one day I just got tired of it all.”

“It was a little note when my alarm went off and I would read it every day, ‘I will pitch in the big leagues in 2018,’” he said. “But when you see the writing on the wall and you see what’s going on around you and you’re like, ‘OK, this is not happening.’

“Obviously, the competitor in me wanted to keep going, but I also saw how baseball was trending and how hard it was to get a job. I went in front of 25 scouts and did not get one phone call. But I still maintained the hope that somebody would sign me and then one day I just got tired of it all.

“I think people don’t realize how hard it was, being in pain and pushing your body to a limit that I finally couldn’t tolerate anymore, just to try and get back. It just wasn’t working out. My body failed me in that sense.”

The low point, he acknowledged, was the two years he spent toiling in the Giants’ minor-league system just as the Jays were finally discovering success — the incredible playoff appearances in 2015 and ’16 that sent a country into a frenzy.

Although he was happy for his friends and former teammates, being that far removed from the excitement ate him up inside.

“It was so sad because I feel like I failed in a way. I really wanted to be a part of those playoff teams, I felt like I belonged there, and it was tough to see that on TV from the outside looking in because I felt like I was a big part of what Toronto had grown there,” Romero said.

“I wanted to win so badly in Toronto. We’d always talk about in spring training and in the clubhouse, that we’re the one team that represented the whole country. That was our biggest motivation at all times.”

“I think people don’t realize how hard it was, being in pain and pushing your body to a limit that I finally couldn’t tolerate anymore, just to try and get back. It just wasn’t working out. My body failed me in that sense.”

Romero retired with a 51-45 record, 4.16 ERA and 622 strikeouts.

Raised in East Los Angeles, Romero played baseball in high school and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox but didn’t sign with the club. He accepted a scholarship to California State University (Fullerton) and later helped the Titans capture the 2004 College World Series.

He was drafted by the Blue Jays as the sixth-overall pick in the amateur entry draft a year later, a complete shock to the system.

“When you live in East L.A. and the Blue Jays take you, it’s a ‘holy crap’ moment because I knew nothing about Canada at all… but it was one of the greatest things to happen to me,” Romero said.

He grew up in a tough neighbourhood notorious for gang activity, yet he steered clear of the ugliness and focused on school and sports, with a discipline adopted from his parents.

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Romero signed on to do the odd broadcasting gig this summer, offering commentary on games involving the Vancouver Canadians, the Jays’ class A affiliate, on Sportsnet. But his No. 1 job now is supplying that same love, attention and direction to his sons.

“I could have made the wrong turn easily, but my parents were always there making sure I stayed on the right path, so all the credit to them,” he said. “Now having kids myself, there’s nothing like being a father and being able to stay home and do all the little things, whether it’s going to the park or doing the school pickup, it’s so special.

“I wanted to win so badly in Toronto. We’d always talk about in spring training and in the clubhouse, that we’re the one team that represented the whole country. That was our biggest motivation at all times.”

“Being involved with Toronto and in the community is still so important to me, and Canada will always hold a place in my heart. I still watch a lot of baseball and, hopefully, my two sons are able to one day realize what their pops was able to do.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell