Is it time to start treating Mikey Romero as a serious candidate to make the Boston Red Sox's opening day roster?
It seems far-fetched on one hand, because Romero only has 45 games under his belt at the Triple-A level. Meanwhile, the Red Sox created a glut of backup infield options by signing Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the start of the month, then trading for Andruw Monasterio in the same deal that landed Caleb Durbin from the Milwaukee Brewers.
However, on Monday, insider Ian Browne of MLB.com named Romero as the top "dark horse" to crack the club's opening day roster, and the insider intepreted the Red Sox's messaging about the 22-year-old to mean he had a real shot.
"Though the Red Sox seem to lead the universe in utility infield depth, Romero has a chance to beat out the field with a strong camp," Browne wrote. "A first-round selection by Boston in the 2022 Draft, Romero continues to get unprompted mentions from manager Alex Cora.
"In particular, Romero has impressed team evaluators with his physicality, as he is at last back to 100 percent after spending his first couple of pro seasons bogged down by injuries. ... With Romy Gonzalez (left shoulder injury) appearing unlikely to be ready for Opening Day, that creates a possible opening for Romero and several other players in camp."
Last season, Romero put up a .751 OPS and 17 home runs over 111 games between Double-A and Triple-A. His prospect stock has surged since he returned from some early injuries to post back-to-back strong power seasons, but the 24th overall pick in the 2022 draft still has questions to answer.
To be fair, "dark horses" don't often win races. But given the volume of options at the Red Sox's disposal, it says a lot about Romero that we're even having this conversation.