Drew Rom’s first trip to Camden Yards as a big leaguer didn’t go as planned. In fact, the back of his baseball card doesn’t show that it even occurred.
The left-handed pitching prospect was promoted to the major leagues for the first time May 9, joining a taxed Orioles’ bullpen for two games. But he didn’t appear in either game and was optioned back to Triple-A without making his MLB debut.
He’s back at Camden Yards this week and will pitch there for the first time Wednesday, but it’ll be against the Orioles, not for them. Rom was one of three prospects Baltimore , and he’s back at Oriole Park as a member of the Cardinals’ rotation, starting Wednesday against his former team.
“Definitely not the situation I envisioned,” Rom said Tuesday in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards. “I always wanted to pitch here in the big leagues at some point. … Coming back to Camden, this is something I’ve waited for for five years.”
Rom, the Orioles’ No. 15 prospect according to Baseball America when he was traded, said he doesn’t have any extra motivation pitching against the Orioles, harboring no bad feelings about being traded in early August by the organization that drafted him in the fourth round in 2018.
“It’s a business, it’s baseball,” he said.
He is, however, “excited” to face his former teammates, naming sluggers Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Ryan Mountcastle. But he’s most looking forward to facing infielder and friend Jordan Westburg, who Rom played alongside the past few seasons in Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk.
“We’ve grown really close the last couple years,” Rom said.
Rom, a soft-tossing lefty, had a 5.34 ERA in 86 innings with the Tides before the trade. He started two games for Triple-A Memphis and made his MLB debut with the Cardinals on Aug. 21, pitching 3 2/3 innings and surrendering six earned runs. He’s pitched a little better since, allowing nine runs in his past three starts, including one in his hometown of Cincinnati.
Rom enters his start with a 7.79 ERA in 17 1/3 innings since joining the Cardinals. Flaherty, meanwhile, has a 7.16 ERA in six starts.
The 23-year-old said he was surprised to be traded. Norfolk manager Buck Britton called Rom into his office just a minute or two before the deadline Aug. 1. Fellow top-20 Orioles prospects César Prieto and Zack Showalter were also sent to the Cardinals in the trade.
“I was anxious and sad for sure just because I was leaving everyone I knew in the professional baseball world for the most part,” Rom said. “These are the guys I grew up with.”
His positive feelings about the Orioles organization, though, doesn’t mean he wants Baltimore to take a step toward clinching a playoff berth on his watch.
“Of course it will feel good if I go out and shove against the Orioles,” he said. “It always feels good to do that. There’s no chip on my shoulder, no grudge against anyone over there. … I’m just going to go out and do my thing and have fun doing it against some of my best friends.”
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