Baseball America ranking: 43
Fastball: 70. Curveball: 60. Changeup: 45. Control: 50. ETA: 2020.
Boston surrendered a pair of high-profile pitching prospects in the Kimbrel and Sale deals, but Jason Groome has as much upside as any of them.
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The 12th overall pick in the 2016 draft was widely considered to be the most talented pitcher in his class, but fell to the Red Sox mostly over signability concerns. The lefty possesses a fastball that he can dial up into the mid-90’s, but his signature is a knee-buckling curveball.
Pitchers that are this far away from the majors are generally difficult to project, otherwise Groome would arguably deserve a higher ranking based on his potential. Only 14 pitchers ranked ahead of him on Baseball America’s list, about half of whom are projected to appear in the majors this season, while all of them have an ETA of no later than 2019.
It may take Groome a bit longer to arrive, but this projection lines up nicely for the Red Sox. Sale and Rick Porcello are both slated to hit free agency after the 2019 season, but Boston may not be willing to pay to keep both given that they’ll be focused on locking up their young core of position players around that same time. If Groome is ready to claim a rotation spot by that point, it would make the Red Sox feel a lot more comfortable with letting one of their aces go.