Former Mobile Ram and Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher J.C. Romero was named University of Mobile Assistant Baseball Coach ahead of the 2024 season and is set to begin his second season with the Rams in 2025. Romero joins head baseball coach Kyle Friday full-time in leading the program where he plans to assist in all areas, focusing heavily on the pitching aspect of the game.Â
Romero, originally from Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, joined the University of Mobile Baseball program in 1995 as a player, later being drafted in the 21st round of the 1997 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins. Romero made his major league debut with the Twins just two short years after during the 1999 season and proceeded to put together an impressive 14-year career in the major leagues. He played for a total of seven teams in his career, capturing the 2008 World Series Championship with the Philadelphia Phillies. He eventually retired from Major League Baseball in 2012 following his age-36 season.
In the past, Romero has kept ties with the baseball program at the university, donating the J.C. Romero Hitting Facility at Jacobs Field in 2011. Romero has also returned on several occasions showing support to the program, more recently in February of 2023 during a baseball alumni event. During that alumni event in an interview with University of Mobile Director of Alumni Relations Haley Haney, Romero mentioned how the University of Mobile helped shape his life. "When I came over here, I didn't speak the language. I didn't know what English was," Romero said. "This place... They embraced me here. They taught me. I came here as a kid, and I became a man here. Most importantly, I became a man of God."Â
During his major league career, J.C. Romero pitched over 650 innings, recording 526 total strikeouts. Romero logged a career ERA of 4.16, finishing with a 34-28 win-loss record on the rubber. In the 2008 World Series, the Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in five games during the best-of-seven series, with Romero finishing 2-0 in four games pitched during the Fall Classic. Romero totaled 4 2/3 innings from out of the bullpen, never allowing a run and earning the win on the mound in games three and five.
J.C. is married to his wife Erin Romero (Hostrander), a former Ram and NAIA Second-Team All-American with the softball program in 2001, and the two reside in Fairhope, Ala. with their one
daughter, Jazlyn.
