austin-romine-yankees-catching-prospect.jpg

Austin Romine hasn't hit much for the Yankees this season. The team believes he needs to improve that skill if he wants to be a big-league regular.

(John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

NEW YORK – Austin Romine cracked open his laptop, logged onto an MLB.com account and queued up video from the nightmare he had just escaped. It was a few hours after his first start behind the plate in 2013, a ragged eight-run Yankees loss to Houston on April 29, when Romine failed to click with veteran Andy Pettitte.

Romine considers himself a visual learner. Before starts, he said he studies video of the opposing hitters, keying on three tendencies: How the hitters act on the first pitch; how to expand the zone; how to “put away” the hitters. But as he observed the film from that night, he cast a wider net.

“I watched the whole game,” Romine said earlier this month. “I’m trying to figure out what went wrong, and what can we do to fix that, so it never happens again.”

Thus far, he has avoided a repeat catastrophe. Here in his first extended opportunity in the majors, he’s displayed why the Yankees consider him an asset. Rival talent evaluators and teammates alike affirm his ability to handle a pitching staff. Team officials believe his defense guarantees him a future role as a major-league backup.

The next level may be harder to reach. While manager Joe Girardi asks only for defense from his backstops, general manager Brian Cashman indicated Romine’s bat needed to improve before he could be considered a potential starter. With Chris Stewart resting a sore groin, and possibly still out this weekend against Tampa, Romine received five starts in a row this week. He managed three hits in 16 at-bats, and is batting just .129 this season.

Romine occupies a curious place within the organization. He is not the catcher of the future. That mantle belongs to Gary Sanchez, the 20-year-old in Class-A Tampa. He is not the catcher of the present. Before Stewart hurt himself, Romine played sparingly. The eventual return of Francisco Cervelli (broken hand) could force him off the roster.

Yet Romine is still an intriguing commodity. At 24, he was twice considered one of the top 100 prospects in the game by Baseball America. After bulging discs cost him almost all of 2012, Romine altered his diet, lost weight and developed a daily stretching program designed to keep his back loose.

Now the Yankees must discover what, exactly, he is. One talent evaluator remarked Romine was a player who engendered “a wide-ranging set of opinions.” One scout noted Romine’s rapport with pitchers, but tabbed him as a big-league backup. Another scout worried about his framing ability, but still pegged him as a below-average starter. Cashman presented a simple analysis.

“He’s an automatic backup with the defense,” he said. “But if his bat develops, which it can, he can be a starter.”

Cashman was asked if Romine could better pursue that goal if he were playing full-time in the minors, rather than backing up in the majors. Cashman invoked the name of Jorge Posada, who backed up Girardi at the dawn of his career before flourishing as a starter.

“He developed slowly but surely,” Cashman said. “You earn playing time with better play. Period.”

Yet in the same conversation, Cashman reminded why Posada represents a lofty standard. Posada was a “Hall of Fame caliber” hitter, he said, good for a .848 on-base plus slugging percentage over 17 seasons. The team does not seek as much from Romine. Cashman only asks that Romine replicate league-average production.

In 2012, big-league catchers averaged a .718 OPS. In 472 minor-league games, a limited number for a seven-year period, Romine posted a .748 OPS. Through 33 plate appearances in 2012, an infinitesimal sample size, his OPS is a lowly .350.

Team officials hope he could marry a more robust offensive output with his defensive skills. As he ascended through the Yankees system, Romine often caught Adam Warren and David Phelps. Warren noticed Romine’s intuitive ability to understand a pitcher’s tendencies. They first teamed in Double A, Warren said.

“It took one game,” Warren said. “And then all of a sudden, he was reading my mind. What I wanted to throw, he put down [the signal for].”

Phelps commended Romine for malleability. “He’s not stubborn back there,” Phelps said. “He’s not going to be upset with you if you want to throw a certain pitch. Even if he may not think it’s the right pitch, he wants you to throw whatever pitch he thinks you’re most confident in.

Romine is a soft-spoken Californian. At times during conversation in the clubhouse, his voice fades into a whisper. The volume amplifies during games. Phelps had little trouble hearing Romine in the first inning last Saturday. Phelps looked unsettled, unable to locate. Romine instructed him to stop trying to spot the baseball on the corners. Just pitch, he said.

“You’re throwing the ball to me,” he said. “Not through me.”

Phelps understood. He responded with seven innings of one-run baseball against Toronto. This is what appeals to the Yankees about Romine – and what makes team officials hope his bat can one day match his defense.

“You’ve just got to get in their heads, try to know the pitcher and what his strengths are,” Romine said. “That’s mainly what I try to do.”