Red Sox top-30 prospect rankings after the 2018 season
By Hunter Noll
5. Jay Groome
This was a tough one for me. Jay Groome will be an ace at some point in his career. The problem, however, is I’m big on results (stats, eye-test, and so-on). It’s hard to show results when you’re injured.
Groome was drafted in 2016 and has 62 innings to show for it. He’s one of the best left-handed pitchers in the minors. There’s nothing bad you can say about his game. His fastball and curveball are both plus-plus pitches and his changeup is a plus offering. He also has the frame (6’6″, 220 lbs) and can post massive strikeout numbers.
62 innings though. If he was given more time, he’d be the number one prospect on this list. The injuries have to be at least a little concerning though.
Besides the injuries, Groome is a stud. He slid to the Red Sox in the 2016 draft due to “character concerns”. So far they seem to be ridiculous though as there haven’t been any problems and he appears to be an extremely hard worker. He famously worked out with Chris Sale in the 2017-2018 offseason.
The left-handed pitcher has 5.37 ERA through those 62 innings in the minors. Most of the damage came during his time in Full-A (44 1/3 innings) in an injury-riddled 2017. He posted a 6.70 ERA (33 earned runs) in Greenville but nine of those came in his first 1 1/3 innings. That outing (April 10) was the last one he would make until June 19, so something might not have been right.
Groome did have a few superstar moments that season – throwing five no-hit innings in Short-A, then throwing five one-hit innings in Full-A in his next start. He had another fantastic back-to-back later in the year (both with Greenville this time), throwing six one-hit innings then five three-hit innings. All four of those outings were scoreless.
That highlights just how dominate Groome can be.
The 20-year-old has an inconsistent changeup. When it’s on it shows just how good Groome can be though. It moves like a fastball but drops suddenly, and is about 10 MPH slower.
His fastball sits in the mid-90s but it could touch 100 in time. It possesses a great combination of hair and life. He’ll get a lot of people swinging through it, as well as staring at it when he’s painting corners.
That curveball though – wow. Clearly the pitch of the hour. This pitch could be dangerous in the Majors right now. It’s scary to think Groome has more time to develop it. High-70s to low-80s, it’s the definition of a sweeping curveball. Like the fastball, it will produce swings-and-misses as well as frozen strike threes. This is different though. The swings won’t be through the pitch, they’ll more-than-likely be at nothing as the ball is buried in the dirt. Meanwhile, the caught-lookings will probably be knee-bucklers.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Groome might be untouchable-number-one. Unless the Red Sox are offered something ridiculous, he shouldn’t be on the table. If he can stay healthy, he’ll be an ace in the future. The only reason he’s not higher on the list is that “if”.