I remember not too long ago when Austin Romine was being labeled the second best minor league catching prospect in all of baseball. His problem at the time however, was that the one guy in front of him, Jesus Montero was also the property of the Yankee organization. Now at least Montero’s out of the picture but Romine still has a long way to go if he’s going to figure prominently in the Yankee’s future behind the plate plans.

This California-born son and brother of big leaguers, finally got his chance to dance in the big show in 2013, when Francisco Cervelli was again injured and lost for the season. He did OK defensively but got off to an absolutely horrible start with his bat. He was hitting just .103 for the Yankees at the end of May and you could tell he looked absolutely lost at the plate.

By July, however, Romine was a much more confident hitter and he was able too get his average up to as high as .227 by September of the 2013 season. Does he have the potential to become a .300 hitter, a 20-homer guy or drive in 100 runs in a season? I don’t think so and evidently, neither do the Yankees any more. New York’s front office made it clear that they will be pursuing free agent catcher Brian McCann this offseason, which means they see Romine as a backup catcher in the years ahead.

This hitting star of the 1998 World Series, this former Yankee shortstop, this long-ago Yankee pitching prospect and this former Yankee third baseman all share Romine’s November 22nd birthday.