Romak goes deep for KC, London cheering section erupts
Game-time temperatures were 71 as the Kansas City Royals played the Los Angeles Angels in a spring game in Arizona before 2,880 fans. Things warmed up in the seventh — especially in London, Ont. — when Jamie Romak homered off Trevor Reckling, who pitched at Triple-A Salt Lake City in 2010. Romak’s family had the good fortune of seeing the Royals-Angels game and Romak delivered.
March, 9, 2011
By Todd Devlin
Playing in a big-league spring training game isn’t brand new for minor-leaguer Jamie Romak. But his approach — when given the opportunity to play — has certainly changed.
“When I was younger, I was kind of feeling my way through things,” Romak said over the phone from Surprise, Az., where he’s been participating in the Kansas City Royals’ minor-league camp since late February. “It was more, ‘Well, I haven’t seen a pitch in awhile, I’m going to take one and see what it looks like.’”
Now 25, and with eight minor-league seasons under his belt, Romak (London, Ont.) is going into his at-bats with a new mind set.
“All-out aggression,” he said. “Be ready, and if it’s close let it fly.”
That would be a perfect description of Romak’s first at-bat of the spring last Thursday.
Invited by the big-league club to Tempe, Az. to play a road game against the Los Angeles Angels, the first baseman entered the contest in the sixth inning and came up against left-hander Trevor Reckling in the seventh. With a runner on and the Royals leading 5-2, Romak drilled the first offering he saw from Reckling, crushing it over the left-field fence for a two-run homer.
“It was a first-pitch fastball, middle in,” he said. “I saw it well, put a good swing on it and hit it real, real well. I had a pretty good inkling that it was gone off the bat, but as I got to first base and saw it was gone, things kind of started to slow down for me after that.”
It was certainly enough to impress Royals outfielder Mitch Maier, who went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and a pair of stolen bases in the 8-2 win.
“How about Romak? First live pitch he’s seen all spring, and he hits it 500 feet,” Maier said to reporters after the game. “That was pretty impressive for a young guy to come in and do that right away. That’s pretty cool.”
The coolest part for Romak, though, was the fact that his family got to see it — his first-ever home run in a big-league spring training game. Not in Arizona, but on television back in London.
“For whatever reason, the Angels-Royals game was broadcast back home on (Rogers) Sportsnet,” he said. “My family, my fiancés family, my friends, my neighbors, everyone saw it. It was awesome. I think the stars kind of aligned.”
It seems the stars have been aligning for Romak since last spring. Without a job after the Pirates’ organization opted not to re-sign him for 2010, he managed to get an invitation to minor-league camp with Kansas City, thanks in part to Lonnie Goldberg, now director of scouting for the Royals. In 2003, Goldberg, an area supervisor with the Atlanta Braves at the time, drafted a 17-year-old Romak in the fourth round (127th overall). Goldberg, based out of Guelph in 2003, had since joined former Braves assistant general manager Dayton Moore in Kansas City, where Moore now runs the Royals.
“We had a history and a track record with him (Romak),” Goldberg said. “And that helps a lot. He came in here, and he knew what was expected. He knew what we did with Atlanta and a lot of that is the same over here – what’s expected of players. And I think that fits his personality. He’s a no-nonsense, blue-collar type of player.”
Coming off the worst season of his pro career, Romak had a phenomenal spring, playing his way to a roster spot and everyday at-bats at Class-A Wimington.
“We thought that he would be a great guy to hit behind Eric Hosmer (the Royals’ No. 3 overall pick in 2008) and protect him,” Goldberg said. “To Jamie’s credit, he made the most of it.”
In 82 games for the Blue Rocks, Romak hit .304 with seven home runs and 48 RBIs, earning Carolina League Player of the Week honours three times before being promoted to Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where he added another six homers and 16 RBIs in 45 games.
And that success continued into the fall, as the 25-year-old suited up for Team Canada and manager Ernie Whitt at the Pan Am Games/World Cup qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico in October. In eight games, Romak hit .448 (13-for-29) and led all players in home runs (five) and RBIs (14) en route to being named the tournament’s most valuable player (and helping Canada secure a spot in the 2011 Pan Am Games and World Cup).
“What, going into it [the season], seemed like the worst-case scenario, turned out to be the best-case scenario,” Romak said. “I went on to have one of the best years of my career.”
And now he’s back in camp with the Royals, having re-signed with the club days after he returned from Puerto Rico. Thursday’s home run, then, seems like the most recent chapter in Romak’s career turnaround. Since that long ball, he’s had three at-bats in big-league camp, and he’s approached them all with the same aggressiveness.
“Anything that’s close, you have to be ready to hit,” he said. “The closer you get to the big leagues, you want to make sure that the major league manager is aware of who you are, and you want to make a good impression.”
Romak, who is represented by David Sloane (agent for former Blue Jays Carlos Delgado and Shannon Stewart) plans to spend most of his time at minor-league camp for the remainder of the spring, but figures to also get into a few more big-league games. It would likely be more if the Royals weren’t so stacked with young talent.
In fact, on the surface it seems that Kansas City may not be the best organization for a non-top prospect with big-league aspirations. Many consider the Royals to have the best farm system in baseball. Five of the game’s top 19 prospects (as ranked by Baseball America) are Royals, including a pair of players listed at the two positions Romak played last year – third baseman Mike Moustakas, the No. 2 overall pick in 2007 who was named Texas league Player of the Year last season and first baseman Hosmer.
“There are a lot of guys over there [at big-league camp],” Romak said. “They’ve got four first basemen … five third basemen. It’s the number one farm system in baseball. It’s loaded.”
The same was true last year, but it wasn’t a deterrent for Romak to re-sign with the Royals for 2011. In fact, the Canadian saw the depth of talent as a positive.
“That’s the thing I really like about being here, is that it’s extremely competitive with the players. The atmosphere is unbelievable, and when you’re around that, you’re going to get a lot better.”
His only concern was getting the opportunity to play every day like he did last year, and the Royals told him he would. Though he signed a Triple-A contract, Romak is “90 percent sure” he’ll start the year where he finished in 2010 – Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
“There’s good opportunity for me in Double-A to play a lot, and that’s pretty much all I can ask for,” he said. “And as long as I’m getting to play every day, you just never know.”
For his part, Goldberg thinks Romak has the potential to have a very big season at Double-A.
“I really think if he gets everyday at-bats, whether that be at first base, third base, or in the outfield, he’s got the potential to hit 30 home runs there,” he said. “I still think he’s got some of his best days ahead of him. If you get hot, you have no idea what can happen.”
Still, with so many top prospects in the Royals organization, the chances may seem slim that Romak will get the chance with Kansas City to reach his ultimate goal of playing in the major leagues. But he learned a long time ago not to worry about things that are out of his control. And he owes that in part to a conversation he had with a teammate once during his time in the Pirates’ organization.
“He used to say to me, ‘Do you think you’re going to play in the big leagues?’ And I would say, ‘Yes.’ And he would say, ‘Well, do you know when?’ And I’d say, ‘Not exactly. I mean, I hope it’s soon.’ And he would say, ‘Okay, well, do you know how you’re going to get there?’ And I’d say, ‘Well, not really, I don’t.’”
His teammate’s advice was to simply tell himself that he was going to play in the big leagues. He didn’t have to know how, and he didn’t have to know when.
“If you just tell yourself that, it relieves a lot of the other stress about worrying about what level you’re at or whatever else is going on,” Romak said. Just do your thing, and know that you’re going to be there someday. So that’s what I’ve been trying to live by.”