Catcher prospect Romo gets the call as Rox part ways with Díaz

DENVER -- Laura Romo of The Woodlands, Texas, cleaned her son’s old room spotless.

The plan was for catcher Drew Romo, the Rockies’ No. 9 prospect in the MLB Pipeline rankings, to spend some nights at home while his Triple-A Albuquerque squad played Sugar Land -- about 45 minutes from the family house. But a couple nights ago, Romo received the change of plans of a lifetime.

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Romo, 22, was promoted to the big leagues and joined the Rockies on Friday. He is scheduled for his first Major League start on Saturday night against the Padres.

To clear a 40-man roster spot, the Rockies unconditionally released the only All-Star catcher they’ve ever had, Elias Díaz, after he cleared outright waivers. Díaz was due to become a free agent at season’s end, and the Rockies already assigned Romo to earn his debut this year and a return next year for a shot at starting duty.

Romo tried to warn his mom.

“I told my mom that I was probably getting called up -- I was taken out of the lineup [Wednesday],” Romo said, chuckling. “She was like, ‘You’d better not get called up. I just cleaned the whole house, and I cleaned your room and everything, got it all ready for you.’”

Mom, dad Chris Romo, girlfriend Lauren Hanemann and other family and friends are more than happy to head to Denver. This much is known: Romo will have a tidy room after his six-week trial to show that he is the Rockies’ catching future.

The hope is when he does get home for the winter, he can look back on a successful breaking-in period. Much rides on Romo living up to the hopes the organization had when it selected him 35th overall in the 2020 MLB Draft.

The switch-hitting Romo did his part -- a slash line of .297/.339/.499 and 14 home runs in 85 games for Albuquerque. Also, he caught 24 runners stealing and made just two errors in Triple-A this year. That’s after he committed 15 errors last year between Double-A Hartford and Albuquerque,

The Rockies’ transition would have been cleaner had Díaz not gone to the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain in mid June and then sustained a right calf strain in July that he played through, demonstrating the grit that earned him respect throughout the roster, staff and front office. But because of the injuries and a market in which catchers were not coveted, the Rockies tried but could not move him to a contender before the July 30 Trade Deadline.

“He was a good Rockie, a good teammate, a hard worker,” Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt said. “He cared. He’s going to be missed in a lot of ways, but this is more that we’ve got to get better. The first step, I view, in getting better is giving Drew an opportunity here to get established, get his feet on the ground and see where that goes.”

Manager Bud Black has watched Romo since the prospect’s occasional Cactus League games in 2021. Black, who says he is “a critical judge of that position,” rattled off game-calling, blocking, receiving, throwing and handling the game as pivotal traits.

Romo had 11 passed balls in Triple-A this year.

“I expect him to learn, be a student -- and I hope the education happens fast,” Black said. “I hope he is a great learner of a lot of things he’s exposed to while he is here. And he can pick it up and not have it take two years.”

Saturday will be intense.

Romo will face the National League West-contending Padres and catch Kyle Freeland, who invested time in Romo in Spring Training to help him develop into the leader he needs behind the plate. And even with the Rockies deep in the NL West basement, there will be a crowd giddy on a night honoring new Hall of Famer Todd Helton.

Romo prepared by focusing on daily tasks, rather than when he would be called to the Majors.

“I’m most proud of the game-planning and gaining trust of some of the older pitchers in Albuquerque,” Romo said. “That was really tough early in the season, being a younger guy. It was learning to read swings, learning to make game plans and scouting reports. That’s where I developed most in the season so far.”

To do it at the highest level, Romo gladly will miss out on a trip home.