FORT MYERS, Fla. – The first opportunity Perfect Game Vice President of Player Personnel David Rawnsley had to watch young class of 2016 left-handed pitcher Jason Groome perform came in mid-March at the Perfect Game High School Showdown in Emerson, Ga.
Groome, a 6-foot-6, 180-pound 16-year-old from Barnegat, N.J., was pitching for Bradenton, Fla.-based IMG Academy at the PG HS Showdown, and Rawnsley wasn’t the only member of the scouting fraternity who was eager to see him pitch early in his junior campaign at IMG.
In his written report after Groome’s outing, Rawnsley mentioned Groome’s youthful appearance – he won’t celebrate his 17th birthday until late August and will still be 17 years old at the time of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft – and called it “scary’ to consider what a few more years of physical maturity will do for his development. But, Rawnsley wrote:
“Perhaps the most impressive thing about Groome is simply how easy he throws a baseball. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that he looks like he’s throwing batting practice – only with a blindingly fast left arm – (because) he throws with so little apparent effort.”
It’s been three months since Groome made that appearance on a cold and wet evening north of Atlanta, and on Saturday afternoon he was making another PG appearance. The occasion this time was the Perfect Game National Showcase at JetBlue Park, an event that this year brought Groome together with more than 320 of the country’s other top prospects from the class of 2016.
Groome, a Vanderbilt commit, threw two innings on Saturday, and showed that same even, easy effort in hot and humid Southwest Florida in June that he showed in cold and wet North Georgia in March.
He did give up three hits – including an RBI double to Puerto Rican prospect Alexis Torres – in two innings, but impressed hundreds of scouts and an audience that will watch an MLB.com stream of the game Sunday night with a fastball that sat 92-94 and topped at 95 mph and a changeup and curveball that were both 77-79 mph. This was his first appearance at a PG showcase event.
“I do my same routine every time I pitch,” Groome said of throwing during a showcase as opposed to throwing during a summer tournament game or a high school game. “It was fun seeing those scouts and lighting up their guns a little bit. I’ve been on the scouts’ radar since I was 13 (years old) and I’ve gotten to use to them being out there; when I’m on the mound, nothing can really distract me.”
That seems to be true. Despite his relative youth, Groome has been a steady presence at the top of the national 2016 prospect rankings since debuting at No. 14 on June 25, 2014. He moved into the top 10 at No. 9 on Sept. 3, 2014 and then nestled into the No. 4 spot on Nov. 17, 2014.
He was still sitting at No. 4 as this event got under way but most telling is that he has been the country’s top-ranked left-hander for months, not a small achievement in a class that is very top-heavy with talented southpaws.
Two of those highly ranked lefties – No. 2 Jeff Belge (Syracuse, N.Y., St. John’s) and No. 4 Braxton Garrett (Florence, Ala., Vanderbilt) – pitched in the same game Saturday as Groome, and another – No. 3 Cole Ragans (Crawfordville, Fla., Florida State) – pitched Friday.
“All of us left-handed pitchers, we actually get along very well,” Groome said. “I guess it’s just being a lefty, being special in some sort of way.”
Groome has never been shy about his ambitions – “My dream has always been to play in the major leagues and become a Hall-of-Famer, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change,” he said Saturday – and he making all the right moves towards making his dreams come true.
In an effort to raise his profile, Groome transferred from his New Jersey high school to IMG Academy the summer after his sophomore year. The Ascenders finished 20-5 during their spring season, and Groome was 5-0 with a 0.98 ERA, allowing only 23 hits while striking out 77 and walking nine in 43 innings of work.
“He’s a hard-worker and he’s a low-maintenance player,” IMG coach Steve Frey told USA Today High School Sports in an online article published Saturday. “You just tell him to do something and he does it. He’s a high-competitive spirit – when he gets on the mound you can actually see him competing.
“Off the field, he’s more low-key. He’s a low energy guy but the ball explodes out of his hand. He has a good curve ball and has a good change-up; he’s confident in his pitches.”
For his part, Groome said he felt like he was going away to college early when he enrolled at IMG Academy, left his family and moved to Bradenton. His family supported him all the way and he stuck it out through the conclusion of his junior year.
“I did very well baseball-wise – I got a lot bigger and stronger, so they helped me with that,” he said. “I’m looking forward to going back there again next year and see what they have to offer again.”
Before Groome ever arrived at IMG Academy, he was honing his baseball skills with Bob and Joe Barth at Voorhees, N.J.-based Tri-State Arsenal Baseball. He has played in seven traditional Perfect Game tournaments and PG Super25 tournaments with the Arsenal to go with his appearance at the PG High School Showdown playing with IMG.
Groome was named to the all-tournament team after five of his tournament appearances and was the Most Valuable Pitcher at the 2014 15u PG WWBA National Championship. That number would be a lot higher except that all-tournament teams aren’t named at PG Super25 events.
“(The Arsenal) has done a good job of getting me out on the scouts’ radar,” Groome said. “They’ve helped me out tremendously and I’m there to help them out anytime they need something from me. Before I went to IMG, I would go (to their facility) and workout and hang out with them just because it was such a great baseball atmosphere.”
The only personal pitching coach Groome has ever had is his father, whose name is also Jason and who wasn’t able to be here this weekend. Most of what Groome has learned about the game has come from his dad, in addition to the things he’s picked up himself.
“If I see something I try to correct it and my dad’s always there for that support, too,” the younger Groome said. “He stopped playing baseball in high school but he knew a lot about the game and he’s taught me everything I know; I give him all the credit.
“He said he started throwing to me when I was four years old and I just loved it, so he kept working with me,” Groome continued. “I started pitching when I was seven or eight and my dad said he saw something so he just kept working with me.”
As far as other people who have influenced his baseball career, Groome, a Boston Red Sox fan, pointed to Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. “I just like the way that he plays the game and always gives it his all,” Groome said. “He never bad-mouths anyone, always respects people and he always hustles everything out.”
That kind of sounds like the type of player Jason Groome is. Three months after watching him throw in Georgia, PG’s Rawnsley had the opportunity to watch him work again on Saturday and saw much of the same while also noticing some improvements.
The improvement came with his breaking ball, which Rawnsley said was a little bit tentative when he was throwing in March. On Saturday, Rawnsley noticed a lot more conviction and consistency when he threw his off-speed stuff, and that’s what Rawnsley was hoping to see. What remained the same – and this also pleased Rawnsley – was the easy, effortless manner in which Groome delivers his pitches.
“That’s there. That’s something natural and God-given to Jason Groome that I do not think is going to change,” he said. “I don’t think any pitching coach is going to come along and say, ‘Son, you need to grunt a little when you throw the ball; let’s get a little head-whack in there.’ … No pitching coach should really do much at all in terms of his delivery and that low effort.”
The time Groome spent at the PG National was satisfying and also rewarding. The prospects in attendance at the event all want to perform well on the field but there is an off-the-field aspect that excites them just as much as far as what they want to take away from the event.
“Making new friends with all these kids is the most important thing. You’ve never (met) them before and then it’s just awesome to meet new people” Groome said. “It’s fun when they get to know your name and then you get to know their name, and it’s cool being around kids who are at the same competition level.”