Romine off to good start with bat
New York Yankees catchers (L-R) Kyle Higashioka, Austin Romine, Russell Martin, and Jorge Posada. (Feb. 15, 2011) Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
Because of the attention paid to Jesus Montero, Austin Romine sometimes is the Yankees' forgotten catching prospect.
He had an outside chance to win the backup job behind Russell Martin when Francisco Cervelli got hurt in early March but, like Montero, Romine didn't produce, hitting .217 with a .280 on-base percentage. But Romine came out of spring training confident, even after being told by Joe Girardi that he'd start the season where he ended 2010, Double-A Trenton.
Romine's ability on defense has rarely been questioned by scouts, which is not the case with his bat. But in Trenton's first 11 games, Romine, 22, hit .310 with a .420 OBP, two home runs and nine RBIs. Both of the homers and four of the RBIs came in Wednesday night's game.
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