Orlando Román
From BR Bullpen
Orlando Román Bruno
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 210 lb.
- Born November 28, 1978 in Bayamón Puerto Rico
Orlando Román has spent 10 seasons in professional baseball (through 2008), with a 40-38 record in Organized Baseball.
Román was taken by the New York Mets in the 31st round of the 1999 amateur draft out of college. He exploded onto the pro scene, going 6-0 with a 2.36 ERA for the GCL Mets that year. He allowed only 41 hits in 61 innings while fanning 64. He finished 6th in the Gulf Coast League in ERA, right after Seung Song, and second in strikeouts behind Dave Martinez.
Orlando fell apart in 2000, going 3-5 with a 6.15 ERA for the Pittsfield Mets. He went 3-3 between three stops in 2001. In 2002, he rebounded, going 1-5 with 12 saves and a 2.77 ERA for the Capital City Bombers and whiffing 100 in 78 innings, having now made the conversion to relief.
Román went 3-5 with a save and a 3.94 ERA in 28 games for the 2003 St. Lucie Mets and 2-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 7 games for Capital City. In 2004, he averaged nearly a strikeout an inning between St. Lucie (4-5, 3.71) and the Binghamton Mets (2-2, 4.35). In the winter of 2004-2005, he went 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA for Caguas of the Puerto Rican League.
In the summer of 2005, Orlando went 4-4 with a 4.95 ERA for Binghamton despite 136 strikeouts in 120 innings. He was only 8 strikeouts behind Yusmeiro Petit for the lead among Mets farmhands. He joined the Puerto Rican national team for the 2005 Baseball World Cup and went 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA to lead their staff. His second win came against future big leaguer Devern Hansack. He tied for 4th in wins and was 4th in ERA between two South Koreans and Miguel Gómez.
In the winter of 2005-2006, he was 5-2 with a 3.14 ERA for Caguas. He was back with Puerto Rico for the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He pitched one game, relieving Willie Collazo with a 3-3 score against the Dutch national team in the bottom of the 5th and promptly retiring Sharnol Adriana on a fly to end the inning. Puerto Rico scored twice in the top of the 6th. In the bottom of the 6th, Orlando walked Dirk van 't Klooster, retired Sidney de Jong on a fly and walked Raily Legito before Pedro Feliciano relieved him. As Puerto Rico held on to win, Román got the win.
Román split 2006 between Binghamton (4-2, Sv, 3.79) and the Norfolk Tides (0-1, Sv, 4.05). In the COPABE qualifiers for the 2008 Olympics, the right-hander was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA for Puerto Rico, which failed to advance. He had a fine winter, though, going 5-1 with a 2.13 ERA for Caguas. He was 4th in the Puerto Rican League in ERA between Bruce Chen, Bill Pulsipher and Jonathan Albaladejo.
Not signed by the Mets, Román went to Mexico, opening 2007 with the Puebla Parrots and did very well. He went 5-1 with 12 saves and a 1.48 ERA, earning him a return trip to the States with the Bowie Baysox (1-1, 4.24 in 7 late-season games).
Román began 2008 back with Puebla and went 1-1 with 16 saves and a 2.21 ERA in the regular season. He again got a late-season ticket to the USA, signing with the Toronto Blue Jays but struggling with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (1-1, 2 Sv, 7.31 in 21 games). Orlando joined Puerto Rico for the 2008 Americas Baseball Cup and tossed a no-hitter (walking one) against the Aruban national team. He finished the event 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA with 16 strikeouts and one walk in 13 innings to help Puerto Rico win the event. He tied for the lead in wins, was 9th in ERA and tied for third in strikeouts.
