Cardinals are on the left Drew Rome underwent arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder last week, manager Oli Marmol told the club's rhythm (X link via Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat). Marmol said the team still hopes that the 24-year-old player may return at some point this season.
Rom was one of three players St Jack Flaherty trade. As a junior starting pitcher, Rom was a logical target for a team looking to reload the pitching staff and push for contention. St. Louis called him his first league game three weeks after acquiring him. He took eight turns in the rotation but didn't perform well enough to fit into the 2024 Opening Day job.
The 6'2″ southpaw posted an 8.02 ERA over 33 2/3 innings. He had a low 18.8% strikeout rate, walked more than 11% of the batters he faced, and gave up seven home runs. While it wasn't how Rome wanted to start his major league career, he entered 2024 as a depth starter who may have made it onto the MLB staff at some point throughout the season. Rom has logged 134 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level dating back to 2022. His 4.75 ERA during that span isn't great, but he struck out an above-average 26.6% of opposing batters.
Injuries will make that impossible, at least in the near future. Rom battled what was initially announced as biceps tendinitis during Spring Training. He opened the season on the injured list and was transferred to the 60-day IL when St Kyle Leahy on the MLB roster last week. The team revealed at the time that Rom had visited a specialist and that surgery was on the table. He will apparently be out when he is eligible to return at the end of May. Rom will collect major league service and be paid the $740K MLB minimum salary for any time he spends on the injured list.
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