Jordan R. Romano...Went to high school at Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy in Markham, Ontario...Attended Connors State College in Warner, Oklahoma, in 2013 and went 4-3 with a 4.74 ERA (46BB/53K)...Pitched at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2014 and held a 3-4 record with a 2.66 ERA (17BB/49K)...Played for Team Italy in the 2017 World Baseball Classic...Appeared in two games and earned the win against Mexico with a scoreless ninth inning (2K) as his teammates plated five runs in the bottom of the frame for a 10-9 victory...Participated in both the Toronto and Vancouver stops of the 2023 Blue Jays Winter Tour.
2023
Named an American League All-Star for the second straight season...Retired the only batter he faced at the Midsummer Classic... His 36 saves were second most in the AL (T-5th in MLB) and tied a career high (36 in 2022)... Allowed eight earned runs in 27 games (29.0 IP) at Rogers Centre for a 2.48 home ERA... Converted 26 consecutive save opportunities from May 13-Sept. 22, besting Tom Henke (25 in 1991) for the longest single-season streak in franchise history... Earned his 20th save of the campaign on June 16 at TEX (1.1 IP, 3K)...Became the first pitcher in club history with multiple seasons of 20+ saves before the All-Star break (20 in 2022)... Notched 26 saves before heading to the All-Star game, the most ever by a Blue Jay before the All-Star break (B.J. Ryan - 24 in 2006)... Picked up his 27th save of the season on July 23 at SEA (1.0 IP, BB, HB, K)...Was his 88th career save, the fourth most all-time by a Canadian-born player... Placed on the injured list with lower back inflammation from July 29-Aug. 14... Saved his 30th game of the year on Aug. 19 at CIN...Became the fourth player in team history with consecutive 30-save seasons, joining Tom Henke (1990-92), Billy Koch (1999-2001), and Roberto Osuna (2016-2017).
2022
Won the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s 2022 Tip O’Neill Award, presented annually to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals...Became the third Blue Jay ever to receive the award, joining teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (2021) and Rob Butler (1993)...His 36 saves tied for fourth most in MLB...His 19 one-run saves were a franchise record (Jeremy Accardo - 15 in 2007) and led MLB in 2022...Set career-highs in appearances (63) and innings pitched (64.0)...Had a first-pitch strike rate of 70.1%, the fifth-highest mark among MLB pitchers (min. 50.0 IP)...Pitched a clean ninth inning on April 8 vs. TEX, striking out a pair on 18 pitches (11 strikes) for his first save of the year...Set a franchise record by converting his 26th consecutive save opportunity April 11 at NYY (1.0 IP, 2H, K), surpassing Tom Henke (25 in 1991)...Picked up his fifth save April 15 vs. OAK (1.0 IP, 2K), joining Duane Ward (1993) as the only players in club history to pick up five saves in the first eight team games of a season...Tossed a scoreless ninth inning April 17 vs. OAK to earn his sixth save...Became the ninth player in MLB history to record at least six saves in a team’s first ten games of a season...Nailed down his MLB-leading eighth save on April 22 at HOU, becoming the third player in MLB history with eight saves in a team’s first 14 games of a season...Converted 31 consecutive save opportunities from May 11, 2021-April 22, 2022, the longest streak in franchise history...Named AL Reliever of the Month for April after going 1-1 with a 1.59 ERA (2 ER/11.1 IP), a 0.88 WHIP (2BB/13K), and an AL-best 10 saves...His ten saves in April set a club record (Duane Ward - 8 in 1993)...Became the fastest pitcher in franchise history to reach ten saves in a single season, doing so in 22 games (Duane Ward - 31G in 1991)...Recorded his secomd career five-out save June 19 vs. NYY (H, BB, 2K)...Became the seventh pitcher in franchise history to save his 20th game before the All-Star break with a clean inning on July 17 vs. KC (2K)...Notched his 24th save on July 31 vs. DET, besting his career high from 2021 in 23 fewer games (23 SV in 62G)...Named AL Reliever of the Month for July after posting a 0.84 ERA (1 ER/10.2 IP) and a 0.47 WHIP (1BB, 12K) while converting all seven save opportunities...Was his second AL Reliever of the Month award (April 2022), becoming the first Blue Jay to win it twice...Earned his 50th career save in his 134th career game Aug. 2 at TB, becoming the third-fastest in franchise history to reach the mark, trailing Billy Koch (92G) and Roberto Osuna (127G)...Put together a career-high 16.0 scoreless innings streak from Aug. 7-Sept. 17...Picked up his 36th save with a scoreless 9th on Oct. 2 vs. BOS...Along with Zach Pop, became the first set of Canadian-born Blue Jays to earn the win and the save in the same game...Made his postseason debut in Game 2 of the ALWC vs. SEA on Oct. 8 (1.2 IP, 4H, 2ER, BB, 4K)
2021
Recorded a career-best 23 saves, seventh most in the AL...His 95.8 save percentage (23/24) was the highest in the AL, second in MLB (Josh Hader - 97.1), and tied Ken Giles (23/24 in 2019) for the best in team history...His 2.14 ERA ranked seventh among AL relievers...His 85 K’s were eighth-most while his 33.6% K rate was ninth...Finished as a runner-up for the Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year Award...Was the most clutch reliever in baseball, according to FanGraphs’ Clutch stat (1.54), while his 3.75 win probability added ranked second among relief pitchers (1st: Josh Hader - 4.93 WPA)...Became the fourth player in team history with 7+ wins and 20+ saves in a single season, and the first since Billy Koch in 2000 (9 W, 33 SV)...Claimed the win on Opening Day, April 1 at NYY, with a scoreless ninth inning (2BB, 2K)...Was his second Opening Day win, also doing so in 2020 at TB...Placed on the injured list from April 14-23 with right ulnar neuritis...Earned his fourth win of the year June 19 at BAL, throwing 2.0 IP for the second time in his career (Sept. 23, 2019, vs. BAL)...Picked up his ninth save of the season in the Blue Jays’ return to Toronto on July 30 vs. KC (1.0 IP, H, ER, K)...Joined Paul Quantrill (8) as the only Canadians to record a save at Rogers Centre...Claimed his fifth win Aug. 7 vs. BOS (1)...Became the 18th Canadian all-time to earn a win at Rogers Centre, and the sixth to do so as a Blue Jay...Converted his 20th straight save opportunity Sept. 21 at TB, the 7th pitcher in franchise history to accomplish the feat...Converted his 23rd consecutive save Oct. 1 vs. BAL, tied for the third-longest streak in Blue Jays history, trailing only Tom Henke (25 in 1998) and Casey Janssen (24 in 2013-2014)...Allowed three runs over his last 23 games (1.09 ERA) while going 3-0 and converting all 14 save opportunities (7BB, 37K).
2020
Named Toronto’s Rookie of the Year by the Toronto Chapter of the BBWAA...Among AL pitchers with 15+ appearances, ranked 6th in ERA (1.23), 6th in strikeout rate (36.8%), 9th in AVG (.154), 11th in SO/9 (12.89) and 12th in WHIP (0.89)...Allowed eight hits to go with five walks for a 0.89 WHIP and a .154 AVG...Gave up only two hits to 24 left-handed hitters for a .083 AVG...Struck out 21 batters in 14.2 innings pitched for a 12.89 SO/9...Gave up just two earned runs over the entire campaign, both on solo homers: one on Aug. 15 vs. TB and another on Aug. 28 vs. BAL...Started the season with 9.1 scoreless innings, the 2nd longest scoreless innings streak by a Blue Jay this year (Thomas Hatch - 12.1)...His 8.2 IP without allowing a hit to start a season passed Tom Henke (8.0 in 1985) for the most in team history, and his 29 consecutive batters faced without allowing a hit were also the most (Henke - 26)...Earned his 1st career win on Opening Night at TB with a scoreless inning of work (2BB, 2K)...Claimed his 1st career save as he pitched the 10th inning on Aug. 21 vs. TB (2H, 1R, 0ER, 1K)...Placed on the injured list with a right middle finger strain from Aug. 29 for the rest of the season.
2019
Taken in the Rule 5 Draft by the White Sox on Dec. 13, 2018 (3rd overall pick) and was traded to the Rangers for cash... Was returned to Toronto on March 23, 2019...Made his MLB debut on June 12 at BAL...Became the 28th Canadian-born player to play for Toronto (11th ON-born) and the 13th to make his MLB debut with the Jays...Retired all three hitters in a 1-2-3 7th inning...Fanned Pedro Severino and Rio Ruiz to become the 8th player in team history to strike out his first two career batters faced...Pitched 1.2 innings on June 21 at BOS and recorded all five outs via a personal-best five K's...Optioned on June 23...Recalled again on Aug. 22...Finished the big-league part of his campaign with 21 strikeouts in 15.1 innings for a 12.33 SO/9...Went 2-2 with a 5.73 ERA in 24 games (three starts) for Triple-A Buffalo (37.2 IP, 24 ER, 14BB, 53K).
2018
Was among the Eastern League leaders in opponents batting average (2nd, .237), WHIP (3rd, 1.19), wins (T3rd, 11), strikeouts (T4th, 125), starts (T8th, 25), and innings (T9th, 137.1) at New Hampshire (AA)…was selected as the right-handed starter on the EL Postseason All-Star Team…started for the Eastern Division in the league All-Star Game, fanning 2 in a perfect inning of work…was the Eastern League pitcher of the week for the week ending 7/22…was 9-0, 2.17 (14 ER/58.0 IP) in season's 1st 10 starts thru end of May, winning final 9 decisions in that span…last outing in that period was a win in spot start for Buffalo (AAA) on 5/27 at Rochester (2 ER/5.0 IP)…returned to New Hampshire the following day and was 0-4, 7.52 in 6 starts in June, including 1st loss of season on 6/7 vs. Akron…rebounded to go 2-0, 1.04 in 4 July starts but was 1-4, 7.27 in final 6 games… held RHB to .216 batting average…worked 7.0 scoreless innings on 4/11 at Trenton and 8.0 shutout frames on 6/21 vs. Harrisburg…was on the DL from 8/30-9/7.
2017
Was assigned to Advanced-A Dunedin where he spent the entire season ... Made 26 starts and appeared twice as a reliever ... Set career highs in wins (7), innings pitched (138.0), hits (141) and runs (65) allowed, walks (54) and strikeouts (138) ... Ranked 2nd in the Florida State League in strikeouts, T-2nd in starts and 3rd in ERA (3.39)...Ranked 5th in innings pitched but surrendered just two homers, the fewest of any pitcher ranked in the top-40 in innings pitched ... Went 5-1 at home with a 2.33 ERA (2-4 on the road, 4.75 ERA) ... In his only postseason start, hurled 6.2 innings of one-run ball to earn the win against the Tampa Yankees on Sept. 6 ... Was named an Organizational All-Star by MiLB.com at the end of the year.
2016
Played exclusively for Class-A Lansing in 2016, starting 14 of 15 games ... Started the 2016 season with back-to-back one-run, seven-strikeout performances, the first of which was his 1st professional complete game in his return from Tommy John surgery on June 13 vs. Great Lakes (7.0 IP, 2H, 0BB, 7K) ... Recorded his 1st 10-strikeout game with 10 punch-outs over six innings on Aug. 24, 2016 at Dayton ... Made two brief stints on the DL over the course of the 2016 season: July 15-23 and Aug. 27-Sept. 3 ... Went 3-2 with a 2.11 ERA over 72.2 innings in 2016...Limitied opponents to a .191 batting average while recording 72 strikeouts.
2015
Missed all of the 2015 campaign due to Tommy John surgery.
2014
Signed with the Blue Jays on June 12, 2014 and was assigned to the GCL Blue Jays...After two games in the Gulf Coast League, was assigned to Rookie-level Bluefield where he struck out 33 batters over 25.0 innings while allowing only six earned runs (2.16 ERA).
