Drew Rom’s Major League debut won’t end up being with Baltimore after all.
The 23-year-old left-hander was traded from the Orioles to the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-player deal centered around Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty headed to Baltimore as the Orioles make their playoff push.
Rom along with Cesar Prieto were traded to St. Louis in exchange for Flaherty at the trade deadline, according to multiple sources. Rom has pitched 86 innings in Triple-A Norfolk this season with a 5.34 ERA. He’s struck out 100 and allowed 100 hits in his body of work this season.
The southpaw was called up to the Orioles in May, but never logged any game time and was optioned back to Norfolk three days later. Rom was rated as the No. 18 prospect in the Orioles organization, according to mlb.com. Now he gets a fresh start in St. Louis, the Cardinals sellers at the trade deadline as they currently sit at 47-60 and 11.5 games behind Cincinnati in the NL Central.
Rom graduated from Highlands in 2018 and was drafted by the Orioles in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Draft. Rom was a part of three straight 9th Region championship teams at Highlands from 2016-18, a member of the varsity team since his sophomore year, according to the KHSAA website. He was a 2018 Mr. Baseball honoree and 9th Region tournament MVP that season as Highlands was the state runner-up.
At the time of the report, it’s unclear if Rom will be with the Cardinals or in the Minor Leagues.