Romano revives career with help of old friend

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DENVER – Rockies closer Jordan Romano is thriving in new surroundings. Old friends and teammates deserve a large degree of thanks.

Romano had represented the Blue Jays in two All-Star Games, but arthroscopic right elbow surgery in 2024 ended his time in Toronto. He joined the Phillies in '25 but was affected by neck/shoulder pain and finger numbness.

Feeling healthy going into this season, Romano signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Angels, who demonstrated a quick hook by releasing him on April 27.

Undaunted, Romano signed with the Rockies on May 6. Finally, Romano’s hard work and good counsel began to pay off. He did some testing at the team’s performance lab in Scottsdale, Ariz., and had a nine-game tuneup with Triple-A Albuquerque. Since joining the Rockies on July 4, Romano is 8-for-9 in save chances. A 1-2-3 top of the ninth in Tuesday night’s 7-6 loss to the Dodgers left him with a 2.84 ERA in 13 appearances since joining the Rockies.

The turnaround began last season with advice from then-Phillies teammates Jesús Luzardo and Aaron Nola, who pointed him to Ben Velazquez, noted for performance rehabilitation and concussion exercise solutions.

“I was having the shoulder and then the finger, and then it wasn't really getting much better -- just kind of achy,” said Romano, 33. “They were like, ‘Hey, see my guy, Ben.’ He tested every part of the body, then was like, ‘Oh, I can fix that. No problem.’

“There were things I’d never thought of -- hips, even wrist flexion. I’d lost a ton of range of motion. I saw him three times a week in person, and we’d go over things. ‘Did you throw a bullpen this week?’ Then we’d work on the arm, or the legs or the body. And we got things sorted out.”

But he didn’t have much time to show the Angels. Nine of his 12 appearances were scoreless, but in the other three he yielded nine runs while recording three outs.

“I was still motivated to pitch,” he said. “It didn’t work out [with the Angels], but let’s go to a new spot.”

That’s when he hooked up with an old friend -- Rockies bullpen coach Matt Buschmann, who worked with him in Toronto. Both live in Florida in the offseason, but at times their busy lives don’t intersect.

“We would talk during the offseason about pitching here and there, but we have families …” said Romano, who signed with the Angels just days after Buschmann was hired by the Rockies and getting to know a new group of co-workers.

But when Romano was cut loose by the Angels, it was time to rekindle a working relationship.

“In Toronto, when I was working with him day in and day out,” Romano said. “He knows my delivery so well. He knows the cues that really help me. We work really well together, and we’re really good friends, too.”

Romano struck out two Giants in his July 4 Rockies debut, and earned a save while striking out two Giants the following game. A save in a difficult situation at Dodger Stadium on July 7 signaled that Romano was the same intense, effective closer Buschmann remembered from Toronto.

“I like watching him get into character, from about the fifth or sixth inning on,” Buschmann said. “He gets to the ninth, and he’s ready to go. I can go over the lineup with him, but at the end of the day, it's just like, ‘I need to go execute. It doesn't matter. It's me versus that hit.’ It's cool.”

Romano relies on a slider that Buschmann calls “his superpower.” But Romano believes finding another “tick or two” on his fastball velocity, to the 95-96 mph range, will make the slider more effective and cut down on walks, which he says are too many.

“I’m working every day with the strength coaches and pitching coaches to move the body a little quicker, doing different things to activate and get the arm moving quicker,” Romano said. “We don’t have the most time in the season, but that’s what I’m trying to get to and figure out.”

With an old friend and a new group of coaches offering advice, Romano is considering continuing his revival with the Rockies. Romano’s arrival has helped settle the bullpen. For much of the year, manager Warren Schaeffer sought matchups throughout the late innings because he didn’t feel there was that lockdown closer.

“Ever since I got here, I’ve felt this organization was going in the right direction,” Romano said. “From Schaeff down, all of the staff, all of the guys here … It’s a young, exciting core. I would love to come back, for sure.”