After picking up their 20th 2020 commitment yesterday in Cooper Nelson, Mike Metcalf was back on the JUCO trails today. FSU picked up their sixth JUCO commit and 21st ‘20 commit in Ryan Romano.
Congrats to Ryan Romano on his commitment to @FSUBaseball ! pic.twitter.com/eegxvHByjZ
— SJR State Baseball (@SJR_BASEBALL) April 6, 2020
Romano comes out of St. Johns River State college and Hillsborough high school as the ‘Noles picked up a Tampa-native for the second straight day. Romano is a redshirt sophomore that stands 5’11, 170 pounds. He is mainly a shortstop but can also slide over to second base.
This season, the middle infielder hit .300. Despite his small stature, he also provides some pop, hitting five homers with a .490 slugging percentage. He posted an OPS of .892 and a .946 fielding percentage up the middle. He also scored 26 runs and drove in 27 in 29 games. Romano also hit for average in 2019, hitting .292 in 44 games. The JUCO-transfer will likely battle for a starting spot in the middle infield, and at worse case, provide some much needed experience and depth up the middle of the diamond.
FSU’s roster next year is going to be stacked with new faces. Many players will likely be asked to move on in the summer or cut after fall ball, something every program will be dealing with. These late adds on the recruiting trail likely signal some unexpected departures from the current roster.