With the playoffs slowly becoming a dream, it’s time for the Yankees to turn the full time catching duties over to Austin Romine. It would be one thing if Chris Stewart was an offensive threat and a superior defender. In comparison to Romine he is neither. As the Yankees look to 2014 and their self-imposed $189 million salary cap, it would make sense to see if Romine can become their starting catcher.
Last night, Romine demonstrated his improvement with the bat as he showed outstanding patience in a nine pitch at-bat against David Price which resulted in a walk that pushed across the Yankees first run. His smart baserunning allowed the Yanks to score their second and final run of the night. It was a move that you would expect from a player who’s head is in the game and an experienced veteran.
The 24 year old catcher was batting .132 on July 8th. After last night he is hitting .223. The kid has worked hard to improve his hitting and it shows. Defensively, he has always been considered top-notch. For a team that needs an infusion of youth, it makes no sense to be giving Chris Stewart the majority of starts behind the plate. Stewart is 31 years old and a career .221 hitter. He shouldn’t be a part of any long term plans for the Yankees but Austin Romine could be.
It’s time for the Yankees to look to 2014. They can start that process by giving Austin Romine the starting job at catcher.
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Main photo credit: Keith Allison on Flikr, Creative Commons, Wikipedia
