A Second Minor League Signing Brings Former Cardinals Southpaw to Brewers’ Organization .MH
The Milwaukee Brewers are filling out their minor league starting pitching depth, something that may not seem glamorous at this point in time, but will almost certainly be a factor in the team’s success during the 2026 season.
Earlier today, the Brewers’ front office agreed to a minor league deal (with an invitation to big league spring training) with former Texas Ranger and recent member of the Korea Baseball Organization Gerson Garabito. The 30-year-old Garabito has worked mostly as a reliever during his time in MLB, but a track record as a starting pitcher in the minor leagues and success as a starter in the KBO, makes it likely that the Brewers will try to stretch him out during spring training.
Now, Milwaukee is reportedly adding another starting pitcher to the mix. Moments ago, Todd Rosiak, the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported that Milwaukee has agreed to a minor league contract with former St. Louis Cardinal Drew Rom, who made eight appearances as a starting pitcher for the Red Birds back in 2023.
Brewers sign LHP Drew Rom to a minor league contract with an invite to big league camp
As Rosiak noted in his post on the social media platform X, Rom, just like Garabito, received an invitation to major league spring training, giving Brewers fans another interesting arm to watch when the exhibition season commences next February.
In terms of what to expect from Rom, his major league track record certainly doesn’t capture the full picture. Looking purely at his MLB stats from the 2023 season, his only in the big leagues, Brewers fans would see a pitcher who allowed an ERA of 8.02 in 33.2 innings with fewer strikeouts than innings pitched and a WHIP north of 2.00. His underlying metrics don’t make the picture much brighter; Rom showed neither an ability to miss bats nor keep the ball in the strike zone, with an uninspiring 18.8% strikeout rate and a brutal 11.2% walk rate.
However, turning to Rom’s minor league career could instill more confidence in a Brewers fanbase that has learned not to ignore even the smallest moves. After being drafted out of high school by the Baltimore Orioles in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Draft, Rom turned heads with his brief performance in Rookie Ball. A sub-2.00 ERA in the second half of the 2018 season meant that Rom was pitching in Low-A in 2019, less than a year after pitching in high school. Not only that, but Rom posted a 2.93 ERA in 95.1 innings in Low-A, which catapulted him into MLB Pipeline’s list of the Top 30 Orioles prospects, ascending as high as the 17th spot on that list.
After the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 minor league season, Rom was assigned to High-A to begin the 2021 campaign. Plenty of success at that level, with a 2.79 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP to prove it, led to a mid-season promotion to Double-A, where Rom continued to pitch well. Unfortunately, Rom’s effectiveness dropped considerably in Double-A and Triple-A during the 2022 season and the first half of the 2023 campaign, but his value was still enough for the Cardinals to acquire him (and two other prospects) in exchange for Jack Flaherty at the 2023 trade deadline.
St. Louis added Rom to their rotation following the trade deadline, and that’s when his aforementioned brief MLB stint occurred. The southpaw then missed the entire 2024 season with tendinitis in his left shoulder, which required arthroscopic surgery. Last season, injuries and setbacks in his rehab limited Rom to just four starts with the Memphis Red Birds, St. Louis’ Triple-A squad, during which he posted a discouraging 5.65 ERA.
He’s a soft-throwing lefty who threw his four-seam fastball, which averaged 91.3 mph, more than 42% of the time in Triple-A last year. He pairs it with a split change that he incorporated far more often last season than he did in years past, and a sinker-slider combo that he cut back on in 2025. With a track record of success in the minor leagues before undergoing surgery in 2024 and an intriguing arsenal of pitches to build from, there are reasons to be encouraged about Rom even if his MLB résumé doesn’t look great. Regardless, it’s another interesting move from the Brewers front office as they continue to fill out their pitching depth.
