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The RailRiders filled out their 25-man roster on Wednesday as catcher Austin Romine was outrighted to the club.
Romine, who was designated for assignment by New York earlier in the week after losing out on the backup catcher job to John Ryan Murphy, cleared waivers on Wednesday.
Romine batted .171 (6 for 35) in 19 games for the Yankees during spring training with 10 strikeouts and just one extra-base hit, a double. Murphy was slightly better with a .238 batting average (10 for 42) in 22 games with three doubles.
If Romine had not cleared waivers, the claiming team would have had to add him to their active 25-man roster or risk losing him on waivers once again.
The 26-year-old was once a top prospect in the organization and the sport, being ranked the No. 86 overall prospect by Baseball America entering the 2010 season. In 2011, he played in the All-Star Futures Game and got the game-winning hit. He’s got just over two years Major League experience under his belt and is under team control until he’s eligible for free agency in 2019.
Romine has played in 76 Major League games in his career with a .204 batting average and one home run, which came in 2013.
The backstop, who has a 25-percent caught stealing percentage in Triple-A and a percentage of 24 with the Yankees, is not new to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, seeing action at PNC Field in four different seasons. He got his first taste of Triple-A in 2011, playing in four games for the SWB Yankees. Throughout his career, Romine has seen action in 116 games for the franchise with a .243 batting average, 10 home runs and 47 RBI.