MINNEAPOLIS — JoJo Romero’s father, Abel, had started making plans to visit the Bronx next week to see the Cardinals against the Yankees when the Cardinals’ lefty called with an alternative.
“Want to come take BP in Minnesota?†the son asked.
Boy did he.
Romero was the talk of dads’ BP on Saturday in the Cardinals’ clubhouse when he switch-hit and took a pitch from Matt Carpenter deep and over the wall — with a wood bat.
“Once he heard about it, he got in the cage back home and started hitting,†Romero said. “And that’s cool for me to see. Usually it’s the other way around. He’s always throwing batting practice to us. Now, I was able to turn that favor around for him.â€
For the first time in recent memory, the Cardinals invited fathers and father figures to join them for the entire series in Minnesota. That included a dinner Thursday night with the team, a golf outing Friday, and Saturday’s signature event — batting practice at Target Field with some of the sons pitching. The Cardinals had previously done family trips and spouse or significant other trips during the season, but this was the first time any official could remember that they had an entire trip for fathers and father figures.
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Inspired by hockey’s dads-trip tradition and other Father’s Day-related events for their fathers, the weekend was the brainchild of pitchers Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. They presented it to manager Oliver Marmol, who agreed and invited a few of the players to speak in the clubhouse with their teammates and their guests present.
“That one thing I kept thinking about was it’s easy in good times and bad — but more bad — it’s easy to get wrapped up in the seriousness and the weight of what these games are,†Gibson said. “Especially when you’re struggling, it’s easy to get caught up in that side of it. What I saw with our dads, who are most of the times our biggest fans, was we get to see how much fun they have doing the little things. It’s easy for us to take for granted. We get to play catch on Target Field every day.
“For me, seeing the dads be so excited gave us a break from some of the weight that comes along with it,†Gibson continued. “That’s what I saw from the guys, too. Helps us remind us that it’s a fun game and it was, for a lot of us, our dads that instilled that.â€
Gibson’s father, Harold, got to help his son warmup by playing catch with him Saturday before a bullpen. He had watched Gibson warm up for games in the bullpen before starts, but always from the seats near the bullpen. On Saturday, he stood in the bullpen. Lynn’s father joined him to shag fly balls while other fathers hit. Victor Scott II’s father, Victor, switch-hit, too. Twenty fathers or father figures joined the Cardinals on the flight from ºüÀêÊÓƵ to Minneapolis on Thursday and throughout the weekend.
Carpenter, whose father and Texas High School Hall of Fame baseball coach, Rick, joined him for the weekend, took the first shift of BP for the fathers.
It wasn’t long before fathers faced sons.
Erick Fedde, the Cardinals’ headline acquisition at the trade deadline, pitched to his dad and admitted later that he had to completely rethink his approach to face his dad, Scott.
“I was nervous, honestly,†the right-handed starter said. “I wanted to throw strikes so that he could hit a few of the balls hard. That’s not how I think about pitching, but I wanted to do that for him.â€
Several of the fathers had their share of line drives. There may have been a metal bat or two mixed in with the wood bats for the events, and other than how sore they expected their fathers to be, the conversation was about the ball hit out of the park by Abel Romero.
Abel played catcher in college, but his position is not why his sons are pitchers.
“That’s more so how I became a catcher,†JoJo said. “Growing up in travel ball, from 13 to 15, I always got asked to go pitch, and I would every time say, ‘I’m not here to pitch. I’m here to catch.’ I would go catch five, six games (in a tournament) and I would pitch one inning.â€
He was there to pitch Saturday to his father.
When Abel Romero batted from the left side, his son JoJo Romero pitched to him. When he hit from the right, JoJo took over video duties. That meant he was ready and recording on his phone when Abel hit the ball over the Target Field wall.
“Nice to have that moment, that minute or two minutes of being out there and him being able hit on the big-league field,†Romero said. “A lot of these dads never had that chance.â€
And, if keeping score, his son kept Abel in the yard.
Mathews dominates, etc.
Quinn Mathews, a lefty at Class AA Springfield, added to his minor league-leading strikeout total with 12 on Friday night against Tulsa. In his past two starts, the lefty has struck out 23 batters in 14 2/3 innings. Mathews, 23, is 8-3 with a 2.27 ERA in 22 starts at three different levels for the Cardinals’ system this summer. His 180 strikeouts in 126 2/3 innings lead all pitchers in the overall minors. … Minnesota and the Cardinals are the only teams in the majors with at least seven players who have 10 or more home runs. Brendan Donovan became the seventh Cardinal with his solo shot Friday night. Lars Nootbaar, who has eight homers this season, could make eight. … During the early innings of Andre Pallante’s seven-inning gem Friday night, catcher Willson Contreras noticed the right-hander was breathing heavy and believed it was because of the pace of Target Field’s pitch timer. It was quick to start, and on Saturday, Marmol explained that despite MLB running the pitch clocks all timers are slightly different depending on the ballpark and the day because of the operator. “It is fairly consistent but there are some places where it’s (snap),†Marmol said, snapping his fingers. “Some places as soon as you start, some places you have three seconds before the umpire signals. The ability to slow that down is important.â€