Andrew Romine

Romine attended Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo, California. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 36th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft, but he opted to attend Arizona State University, where he played for the Arizona State Sun Devils baseball team. In 2006, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[1] Romine was drafted out of Arizona State by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the fifth round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft.

In 2008 he led the entire Angels' organization and the Midwest League with 62 stolen bases.[2] In 2010 he was named to the Texas League All Star Team.[2] Romine was promoted to the Angels on September 24, 2010,[3] making his major league debut that day. He played four games with the Angels during the rest of the season, batting 1-for-11 (.091) and getting his first major league hit on September 26.[4][5]

Romine was called up to the majors again on June 12, 2011, after an injury sidelined Alberto Callaspo.[6] Romine saw action in 10 games with the Angels and batted .125 with a stolen base.[4] During the 2012 season, Romine appeared in 12 games with the Angels. He posted a .412 batting average (7-for-17) and tallied his first career RBI and a stolen base.[4]

In 2013, Romine saw increased playing time with the Angels, playing in 47 games. He averaged .259/.308/.287 in 108 at-bats, with 10 RBIs and three doubles, his first big league extra-base hits, and one stolen base.[4]

Romine in 2015

On March 21, 2014, Romine was traded to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for left handed pitcher José Álvarez.[7] On May 23, Romine hit his first career home run in a game against the Texas Rangers. On August 22, Romine made his first pitching appearance in the eighth inning of a 20–6 loss to the Minnesota Twins. Romine allowed three runs on four hits, including back-to-back home runs.[8] In a career-high 251 at-bats, Romine hit .227/.279/.275 on the season, with 2 home runs and 12 RBIs, while stealing 12 bases in 14 attempts.[9]

On April 29, 2015, Romine made just his second start of the 2015 season and went 4-for-4 in a game against the Minnesota Twins. It was his first career 4-hit game.[10] Romine appeared in a career-high 109 games for Detroit in 2015, though many of his appearances were as a late-inning defensive replacement or pinch runner. He batted .255/.307/.315 with 2 home runs and 15 RBIs, with 10 stolen bases, in 184 at-bats.[9]

On January 14, 2016, the Tigers avoided arbitration with Romine, agreeing on a one-year, $900,000 contract.[11]

On June 18, Romine pitched 0.2 innings in the 9th inning of a 16-5 loss to the Kansas City Royals. He allowed no hits, walked 2 batters, and was not charged with a run. Following the demotion of Anthony Gose and an injury to Cameron Maybin, the Tigers began using Romine in center field for the first time in his career. He made 13 starts and appeared in 22 total games at the position in 2016. Romine hit .236/.304/.322 with 2 home runs and 16 RBIs in 174 at-bats during the 2016 season, and was a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen bases.[9] He played eight different positions during the season, with 44 games at third base, 22 games in center field, 20 games at first base, 14 games at shortstop, 12 games at second base, two games at right field, one game at left field and one game at pitcher.[2] Following the season, Romine was awarded the Bill McAdam 10th Man Award, as voted by Detroit Baseball Society

Andrew Romine playing first base for the Detroit Tigers in 2017

On January 13, 2017, the Tigers avoided arbitration with Romine, agreeing on a one-year, $1.3 million contract.[12] Romine hit his first career grand slam on April 12 in a 5-3 win against the Minnesota Twins.[13]

On September 30, Romine became the fifth player in major league history to play all nine positions in a single game, and the first player to do so since Shane Halter in 2000.[14] During the 2017 season, Romine set career highs in games (124) and at-bats (318), hitting .233/.289/.336 for the year with 17 doubles, four home runs and 25 RBIs.[9] During the season he played 2nd base (27 games, 17 starts), center field (24 G, 20 GS), 3rd base (23 G, 5 GS), 1st base (22 G, 4 GS), left field (18 G, 15 GS), right field (11 G, 9 GS), shortstop (10 G, 9 GS), pitcher (2 G), and catcher (1 G).[2]

On November 2, 2017, Romine was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners.[15] In 2018 with Seattle he batted .210/.260/.244 with 2 RBIs and one stolen base in 119 at bats, while playing every position but catcher.[9] He elected free agency on October 29, 2018.

On January 11, 2019, Romine signed a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.[16] Prior to the season, he exercised an opt-out clause in his contract and was released by the Phillies on March 23, 2019.[17] However, two days later, he re-signed to another minor league contract with the team.[18] In 2019 with the Class AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs he batted .289./342/.408 with 8 home runs, 53 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases (4th in the International League) in 380 at bats.[19] He became a free agent following the 2019 season.[20]

On January 21, 2020, Romine signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox.[21]