BOSTON — Resiliency and maturity.
Those are the first two words that come to Red Sox ace Chris Sale’s mind when he thinks about starting pitching prospect Jay Groome who he trained with during the 2017-18 offseason.
The two lefties, who live in Florida during the offseason, hit the weight room together Monday, Thursdays and Fridays. Sale, Groome and Rick Porcello did pilates together on Wednesdays.
“To see him from where he was when I first worked out with him in 2017 and then to see where he is now, it is night and day,” Sale said. “His work ethic has gotten way better. His maturity level is as good as you’d ever want it to be. That says a lot about him because a lot of guys in his position can go one of two ways. And he chose to go the right way.”
Groome — who missed 2018 and nearly all of 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery — received a promotion to Double-A Portland last week.
The 6-foot-6, 251-pounder dominated in his Double-A debut Saturday. He earned a win against New Hampshire. He pitched 5 scoreless innings and struck out 10. He allowed only two hits and didn’t walk anybody.
Groome turned 23 on Aug. 23. Boston selected him in the first round (12th overall) in 2016. He has a 4.98 ERA in 19 starts this season but he has pitched better than his ERA indicates.
Opponents have batted .238 against him. He had a .328 batting average against for balls in play in 18 starts for High-A Greenville. A high BABIP typically shows a pitcher has experienced bad luck (hits have dropped that should have been outs).
Groome has struck out 32.1% of the hitters he has faced this year. Kutter Crawford (34.4%) and Brayan Bello (33.4%) are the only two Red Sox minor league starters with higher strikeout percentages.
Bello (120 strikeouts) is Boston’s only minor leaguer with more strikeouts than Groome (118). Chris Murphy is right behind them with 117 punch-outs.
Groome has induced a lot of swing-and-miss this season. He recorded 11 swings-and-misses while striking out 10 for Portland on Saturday. He recorded 22 swings-and-misses in his final start with Greenville.
Groome is a different pitcher than he was before Tommy John surgery. He featured a mid-90s fastball and plus-curveball at just 18 years old when the Red Sox drafted him. He drew early comparisons to Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw.
He added a slider and improved his changeup during his Tommy John surgery rehab.
There’s a feeling in the Red Sox organization his slider has become his best secondary pitch, especially to left-handed hitters.
He’s able to induce swings-and-misses above the zone with his fastball.
The shape of his curveball is similar to its shape before Tommy John surgery but the depth varies. He no longer needs it to be his go-to pitch because of the improvements to his changeup and the emergence of his slider.
“He was really young when he was drafted,” Sale said. “And he had a lot of responsibilities as a young guy. He was a first-rounder. He was supposed to be this big-body guy. The expectation levels are through the roof. And he didn’t have a perfect Tommy John recovery either. He had some hiccups and things.”
Groome said last offseason, “I’ve changed a lot from the kid that I used to be. I’m not really the same pitcher. My velocity is still there. I’m sitting 92-94. But my fastball is playing well right now because coming back from Tommy John, it really helped me develop the changeup. So now that I have that changeup just to flash, it makes my fastball better. So now I don’t have to use my curveball as much. And then I introduced a slider. And now I have four pitches. So it makes me a little bit more confident because now I don’t have to rely on my fastball/curveball.”
Crawford a future setup man or closer?
Kutter Crawford made his major league debut in a start Sunday against the Cleveland Indians. The final line wasn’t pretty, but he showed some intriguing stuff.
He recorded nine swings-and-misses (2-plus innings), including seven swings-and-misses in the first inning and at least one with four of his pitches (fastball, cutter, curveball, sinker). He also topped out at 96 mph and threw 70% strikes.
His 26 fastballs averaged 93.8 mph, per Baseball Savant. He threw eight fastballs 94.5 mph or harder.
Crawford might stick as a starter. But his command and velocity suggests he also might develop into a future setup man — or even closer. He has averaged 1.5 walks per nine innings in the minors this year. His willingness to go after hitters and throw strikes are nice qualities for a late-inning reliever.
He also might be able to succeed in a multi-inning reliever role in close games like Garrett Whitlock has done this season.
Granberg has 15 homers
Devlin Granberg, who the Red Sox drafted in the sixth round in 2018 (one round ahead of Jarren Duran), is batting .289 with a .345 on-base percentage, .502 slugging percentage, .846 OPS, 15 homers, 20 doubles, two triples, 67 RBIs and 60 runs in 88 games for High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland this year.
“I think it’s just a good, aggressive approach,” Granberg said. “Just trying to stick to the approach at the plate and trying to execute it as much as possible. I’m kind of more of a higher swing-rate guy. So just trying to make good, quality contact and have really good at-bats. I might be 0-for-4 in the box score. But if I had a couple line-outs, a couple deep at-bats — maybe I had four or five good plate appearances — that’s what it’s all about. Having good plate appearances.”
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