Jordan Romano certainly didn’t have the introduction to Philadelphia Phillies fans he had likely been hoping for when the season got underway at the end of March. The right-hander tripped, stumbled, and then outright imploded over the first few weeks of the season.

But since his conspicuous emergence as the bullpen’s early season scapegoat, Romano has righted the ship and has been impressing. He was an All-Star closer with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022 and 2023, and has been showing that form again lately.

Former All-Star Jordan Romano continues hot stretch after being Phillies’ early season scapegoat

Since April 20, Romano has a 1.35 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, with seven strikeouts and two walks in 6 2/3 innings. Over his last five appearances, since blowing an extra-inning save against the New York Mets on April 23, Romano has held opponents scoreless, allowing just three hits while striking out five without issuing a walk.

He has one hold and two saves over that five-game stretch, with the most recent coming on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Romano looked sharp and struck out two in a clean 1-2-3 ninth inning against the Cleveland Guardians in front of a national audience.

The 32-year-old signed a one-year, $8.5 million contract to show the league that he still had it after his 2024 season was derailed by injuries. The Phillies were gambling that the cost-efficient deal would look good if Romano was healthy.

It didn’t look after his season debut. He blew his first save opportunity on Opening Day. But that was brushed off as debut jitters causing his delivery to get out of sync.

Following a couple of good outings, he again fell apart in back-to-back appearances against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was so bad, the Citizens Bank Park boo birds were out early, with fans already getting fed up with his erratic pitching. He had a 15.75 ERA through his first five games as a Phillie.

There was talk about mechanical issues leading to a drop in velocity, but it looked like Romano and the Phillies cleaned things up when he strung together three clean outings following the Dodgers disaster. But a massacre at the hands of the Miami Marlins on April 19 brought back the doubts and despair.

Surrendering six runs on six hits, including two home runs, while recording just two outs against Miami, Romano almost blew a seven-run lead and had to be rescued by José Alvarado. There were concerns that Romano had been tipping his pitches because his stuff looked good during that horrific Sunday outing. Whatever the problem was, the Phillies seemed to have fixed that as well.

After securing his third save on Sunday, Romano has put together a solid stretch of games. His four-seamer is averaging 95 mph on the year, while his slider is sitting at 85 mph. Both pitches are at the same velocity as 2022, his first All-Star campaign, when he recorded 36 saves in 42 chances and finished with a 2.11 ERA.

Even though it wasn’t all his fault, Romano was an easy target for Phillies fans after the bullpen posted the second-worst ERA (5.81) in the majors through April 20. But now, Phillies fans and observers are coming around on the Canadian reliever.

While his season-long 8.79 ERA and 1.67 WHIP will take a long time to bring down to more reasonable levels, it looks like the Phillies are getting the player they originally thought they had signed. Now, we just hope that it continues.