FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Almost six full years into his professional career, Red Sox pitching prospect Jay Groome is flying under the radar for a change. He’s no longer a Baseball America Top 100 prospect after ranking No. 43 entering 2017. He’s not Boston’s top pitching prospect either. There are three other pitchers in the organization ranked ahead of him.
But the former 12th overall pick is still just 23, and after tossing a career-high 97 ⅓ innings in 2021, Groome believes he’s getting close to finally realizing his major league dream.
“I don’t really tell people, ‘if’ I make my debut anymore. It’s ‘when’ I make my debut,” Groome said by phone before the end of the MLB lockout. “I know I have the stuff to pitch in the major leagues... I feel like I can pitch in the big leagues and I’m not going to stop until it happens. It might not be with the Red Sox, but I’m never going to stop.”
Groome, who was considered one of the top overall prospects in the 2016 draft, has been through almost everything in his first six seasons as a professional.
“I knew there was a lot of hype around me,” he said. “Now, this is where the maturity sets in.”
He pitched well in brief pro debut in 2017, then struggled in 11 starts (6.70 ERA, 1.428 WHIP) with Single-A Greenville in 2017.
In 2018, he blew out his elbow early in spring training and underwent Tommy John surgery in May. He didn’t return until late in the 2019 season and tossed less than a handful of innings in three appearances between the Sox’ Gulf Coast League affiliate and Low-A Lowell. Once COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 minor-league season, Groome’s resumé showed just four innings of work in a three-year span.
Groome’s lack of innings didn’t stop the Red Sox from adding him to the 40-man roster last winter in an effort to protect him from being taken in the Rule 5 draft. After working out at the team’s alternate training site in Pawtucket throughout the summer of 2020, Groome entered 2021 ready to take on a significant workload for the first time in years. Though the results at High-A Greenville varied, Groome was able to stay on the mound without any setbacks.
His performance down the stretch was rewarded with a promotion to Portland. Groome pitched well in his first dose of Double-A action (2.30 ERA, 26 strikeouts in 15 ⅔ innings over 3 starts) after being called up in September. He struck out 40.6% of the batters he faced with the Sea Dogs after his late season promotion. Overall in 2021, he had a 32% strikeout rate.
Groome’s on-field success wasn’t the highlight of his 2021, though. On July 15, he welcomed his first child, a girl named Londyn, and remained away from Greenville for a couple weeks on paternity leave. Londyn’s birth helped put things in perspective for Groome, who believes he has matured significantly since joining the pro ranks straight out of Barnegat High School in New Jersey. Groome’s injuries and struggles have served as valuable lessons.
“I wasn’t very good with failure when I was younger,” he said. “I never really experienced it coming out of high school. It took me a while to overcome that, not only on the field but off the field. I had a lot of stuff get in the way that made me young that made me learn from it. Now, I’m 23 and have a seven-month-old daughter. I know where I want to be with my life now and there’s nothing that can stop it.”
Groome’s maturation process has been aided by some famous mentors, including Chris Sale, who has taken the fellow lefty under his wing in recent years. During last season, Groome said, it was common for Sale to text him, checking in on how he was pitching and how his family was doing.
During the MLB lockout, Groome -- who has lived in Fort Myers for a number of years -- threw with Sale, Matt Barnes, Nick Pivetta and some other Sox pitchers at Florida Gulf Coast University. Throughout the winter, as he worked intimately with the big-leaguers, Groome found himself consistently asking himself if he was as disciplined as them while trying to establish a routine like the ones he witnessed at FGCU. Groome particularly admires Sale’s attitude on the mound and is trying to adopt some of the same intensity into his own game.
“Being a bulldog out there,” Groome said. “When you look at Chris when he’s on the mound, he just looks like a badass. You don’t want to mess with him when there’s two outs, and it’s the bottom of the seventh and he’s got bases loaded. There’s just something about his demeanor when he gets on that mound.”
While Groome is proud of his improvements on the mental side of the game, he doesn’t think his repertoire on the mound is much different than the one that put him on the radar of scouts as a high-schooler. He added a slider during the fall of 2020 to go with a fastball, curveball and changeup and that pitch, according to some in the Red Sox’ organization, is his best secondary offering. He has seen his velocity tick down a little bit since having surgery but carries a similar approach on the mound as he did before getting hurt. The Red Sox’ analytical department has told the 6-foot-5, 260-lb. Groome to continue trying to pitch the way he always has.
“I don’t really consider myself any different than what it was in high school,” he said. “People say I’m a totally different pitcher. I’m still a power pitcher. Just because I added a fourth pitch, it doesn’t make me a crafty lefty like some people say. I’m trying to blow your doors off with everything I throw. That’s how I always was.”
Mentally, Groome has made a lot of changes with his approach. He’s trying not to give hitters too much credit, and a focus in Greenville was on getting outs in the strike zone instead of expanding too much. After walking 10 batters in 16 May innings and then 11 more in 25 June frames, Groome significantly cut down on free passes for the rest of the year. He walked just 11 batter in his final 40 ⅔ innings at High-A and then only four in 15 ⅔ innings with Portland.
“Nothing good comes from a walk,” Groome said.
Groome, who is now sporting long hair, is in big-league camp with the Red Sox and is expected to start the year at either Portland or Triple-A Worcester. He could theoretically factor into the major-league picture late in the season, potentially as a reliever. For now, though, he’s happy he still has the opportunity to be part of the Sox’ organization, even if the shine of being a top draft pick has worn off a little bit since 2016.
“They’ve seen how much I’ve grown over the past six years I’ve been with them,” Groome said. “They’re not getting the 17-year-old they drafted. Now, they’re getting a 23-year-old man.”
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