When the Red Sox selected infielder Mikey Romero with the No. 24 overall pick in the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft, it magnified a theme that has emerged in Chaim Bloom’s time as Boston’s chief baseball officer.
You see, Romero is known for his bat — more specifically, his contact skills over raw power — and that fits the mold of some other players the Red Sox recently acquired, both via trade and through the draft.
Here’s more from ESPN MLB insider Kiley McDaniel, who on Friday evaluated each team’s draft class:
Romero was the No. 1 guy I wanted to move up within 24 hours of posting the final list. He’s one of the better bets in the prep class to hit, he’s a left-handed hitter with a track record, there’s some raw power (but the swing isn’t geared to tap into it yet), and he’ll play in the infield (though his arm strength is just OK right now). I wanted to move him into the mid-30s and that also gives context for the Red Sox pick; it was a little above what was expected, but the 30s, maybe over slot in the 40s is what I was expecting for Romero. It makes sense given the preference for Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs, Nick Yorke and Marcelo Mayer under the Chaim Bloom regime that the Sox would be higher on Romero than other teams and might have also saved a bit here.
The aforementioned quartet — Verdugo, Downs, Yorke and Mayer — all are known for their bat-to-ball prowess, with the potential to develop more power as they progress in their respective careers. So, as McDaniel outlined, it’s easy to see why the Red Sox opted for a player with a similar skill set Sunday night.
Coincidentally, Romero, an 18-year-old shortstop out of Orange Lutheran High School in California, is friends with Mayer, whom the Red Sox selected with the fourth overall pick in last year’s draft. Perhaps there will come a day when they share an infield in Boston.
