Blue Jays farm report: Romano knows Barriera's path after early career elbow surgery

TORONTO — Jordan Romano ran into Brandon Barriera at the Toronto Blue Jays’ Player Development Complex the day after the left-hander injured his elbow last month, and the two-time all-star closer could sympathize. 

Like the 20-year-old, who on Monday underwent a hybrid ligament-replacement and internal-brace procedure that ended his season, Romano also blew out his elbow at the beginning of his pro career. He underwent Tommy John surgery in the spring of 2015, mere months after his selection in the 10^th round of the 2014 draft, and knows well the gamut of emotions Barriera has experienced in the weeks since, as well as the difficult road ahead.

“When you're first starting out, you have all these dreams, like we're going to go low-A, high-A, have great years, just keep climbing the ladder – you really don't even think about a big injury at that point, that's not built into your timeline,” says Romano. “So when it happened to me, it was a huge shock. I was feeling great in spring, elbow never hurt in my life and then one pitch, you're on the operating table the next week. There's no way around it, it's tough. It's a year long, there a lot of times going into the facility just to rehab, you're not even throwing yet, you'll think, like, is it worth it, is this what I signed up for? 

“But once you start throwing again, you start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Barriera’s injury, along with those to fellow pitching prospects Ricky Tiedemann (ulnar nerve inflammation in his left elbow but no major damage) and Landen Maroudis (who next week is scheduled for an in-person evaluation with a specialist after leaving his third outing at low-A Dunedin with an elbow injury) cast a bit of a cloud over the minor-league season’s start for the Blue Jays.

The organization has done remarkably well managing the health of its pitchers in recent years, with Ken Giles in 2020 and free-agent signee Kirby Yates in the spring of 2021 the last big-leaguers to need Tommy John surgery. On the minor-league side, C.J. Van Eyk in 2021 and Trent Palmer in 2022 are among the more recent cases listed on Jon Roegele’s comprehensive tracker.

Barriera, a first-rounder, 23^rd overall, in 2022, was positioned for a major jump forward this year after missing much of 2023 with elbow and biceps issues. He’d spent the off-season working out in Dunedin, Fla. preparing himself for this year but left the mound after only 23 pitches. 

Now he’ll need a combination of patience, perseverance and determination during the months of recovery that await him, and Romano is an example of the many pitchers to have the surgery young and go on to a successful big-league career.

Romano was 22 when he had the surgery and he remembers the first four months of rehab, when he couldn’t throw at all, as the most miserable. He spent “probably 200 nights” that year at the local Clarion Hotel rooming with fellow Canadian Tom Robson, who was also recovering from Tommy John surgery, and “it felt like every day the hotel room just got smaller and smaller.”

“I don't like the beach to this day because I went so many times during rehab just to kill time,” Romano continued. “You're just trying to stay out of the hotel room, do whatever you can to forget about it. But there's no way around it – it’s brutal.”

Romano’s rehab turned out to be especially brutal as he initially struggled to hit his partner while playing catch “because I was still kind of like domed up about my elbow hurting.” At one point, training staff had him simply throw into a cage to save everyone the trouble of retrieving errant throws. 

“They said it was the worst throwing they've ever seen,” Romano says.

The process didn’t turn for him until what he estimates at eight or nine months after surgery, when he went to the Ontario Blue Jays’ indoor facility in Mississauga during a visit home, and told himself, “something's got to change.”

“I'm not joking you, I picked up a ball, I didn't even warm up or anything, I crow-hopped as hard as I could I just let it rip into the net,” Romano recalls. “And my elbow didn't hurt anymore. It was kind of like a mental barrier, and after that, I was perfectly fine, never had another issue throwing to someone or anything. The mental hurdle was gone and it was smooth sailing.”

Romano crossed paths with Barriera while he was in Dunedin building up after receiving a cortisone injection in his elbow during spring training. They didn’t delve too deeply into rehab talk as the severity of Barriera’s injury wasn’t yet known.

Instead the veteran righty simply listened to the young lefty, offering encouragement, the way he does regularly with other injured teammates. Recently, he’s had regular check-ins with righty T.J. Brock, who received a similar cortisone shot to the one Romano had, and in the past he’s reached out and answered questions from others recovering from Tommy John.

"I like letting guys know it's not going to be easy,” says Romano, “but it'll be good in the end.”

Here’s a look around the Blue Jays farm system: 

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

Unlike the parent Blue Jays, the Bisons have been scoring runs in bunches, with 175 through their first 28 outings, an average of 6.25 per game. The versatile Addison Barger became the first of the club’s on-the-cusp prospects to break through this year with his April 24 promotion and there are several other players making a case for themselves, Orelvis Martinez prime among them. The infielder is batting .310 with eight homers through May 1, with a .367 on-base percentage and an eye-popping .630 slugging, with the underlying exit velocities to match. A focal point for him remains his defensive work, with his first 21 defensive starts all coming at second base. … Spencer Horwitz posted a gaudy .487 OBP through his first 25 games, to go with a .348 batting average and .489 slug, but right now is stuck behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and DH Justin Turner, even though he very much has earned a promotion. … Also stuck, Nathan Lukes, who is batting .284/.348/.432 after being an unjust final cut in spring training. … Canadian corner infielder Damiano Palmegiani and left-handed hitting outfielder Will Robertson each has five homers. 

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Shortstop Josh Kasevich made some tweaks late last season aimed at adapting his bat path to produce more consistent hard contact and he’s carried some initial success from then into a hot start this year. The 23-year-old is batting .318/.370/.412 through his first 23 games as he looks to match his bat to his elite defensive work up the middle. His focus right now is on continuing to increase his hard-hit rate, believing that will eventually translate into more power. … Outfielder Alan Roden has similar goals at the plate, looking to leverage his elite bat-to-ball skills and plate discipline into a bit more pop. He’s .308/.393/.474 through 19 games. … Canadian lefty Adam Macko, added to the 40-man roster over the winter, has struck out 22 batters in 20 innings over four starts in his first touch of double-A. … Another 23-year-old, righty Michael Dominguez, has also captured the attention of player-development staff with his start while posting 22 strikeouts in 23 innings over five starts. …Reliever Hunter Gregory has struck out 21 batters in 17.2 innings over eight appearances.

Advanced-A Vancouver Canadians

Rain wreaked havoc with the defending Northwest League champions last month, leading to two doubleheaders in the early going before wiping out four straight games last week. Despite the interruptions, right-hander Ryan Jennings has enjoyed a nice start with only one earned run against and 17 strikeouts in 16 innings over four starts. … Relievers Anders Tolhurst (12 strikeouts in eight innings) and Geison Urbaez (nine strikeouts in 12 innings) have been effective out of the bullpen. … Infielder Nick Goodwin, a seventh-rounder last year, has an OPS of .828 with three homers through his first 19 games.

Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays

Like Barriera, who looked to set to springboard from his winter training, the off-season velocity gains made by Maroudis had the Blue Jays all kinds of excited. The 19-year-old allowed just one earned run in 10 innings with 12 strikeouts against just four walks before he left an outing with an elbow injury. … Injuries aside, positives for the rotation have come from Canadian Connor O’Halloran (21.2 innings, seven walks, 23 strikeouts) and Fernado Perez (19.2 innings, five walks, 24 strikeouts). … The Blue Jays gave shortstop Arjun Nimmala, their first-round pick last year, an aggressive assignment out the gate with Dunedin, where the 18-year-old is three years below the Florida State League’s average age. Batting .163/.264/.250 through his first 21 games with 32 strikeouts in 91 plate appearances, it’s been a tough go for him so far, but he’s shown the ability to compete with older players and make adjustments in the past, which should help him. … Outfielder Victor Arias, 20, has been good out of the gate with a .359/.460/.528 batting line through the first 15 games.