4/13 Gameday Thread: Can Groome Keep Up with Bello & Walter?

I know he's not rated highly by the site, but I'm excited to see Chih-Jung Liu this year. At times, he showed stuff that was honestly pretty exciting. Bello is doing it a level higher and a year younger, with his secondaries a touch more advanced, but I'd honestly compare them as smaller guys who play two pretty good secondaries off an electric fb. If Liu's slider ticks up (a huge if admittedly) I wouldn't necessarily even say there was much difference between the two in terms of stuff alone.

That said, the org doesn't seem to have huge plans for him, and I take it from his current ranking that there hasn't been much chatter amongst scouts about him either. Maybe an indication that the professionals don't like him as much, probably for completely reasonable reasons.

He's 23 in Low-A. I'd think (hope) that if keeps rolling like this, that he'll be on promotion watch soon. I wonder if if his high 90's velocity is back at all?

Wasn't trying to knock him for that, just saying I hope gets to the more age appropriate level soon if he keeps looking like this.

Groom with 4K's, no BB's and 1 hit through 4 innings. Just 44 pitches.

Terrific to see the AA rotation prospects shove

Going to give a nod to the SP podcast and to Chris and Ian. If you've been listening to the podcast recently, then you would have heard about Jacob Webb already. (They didn't tell me to do this). Nice find fellas!

I only watched the first couple innings and had similar thoughts, but then I checked the log and saw he got a bunch of swinging strikes the last 3 innings so I bit my tongue.

Groome has a long way to go but rich hill has carved out quite a nice career with the type of stuff you're describing. An upper 90s fastball is obviously helpful but it's not like it's a necessity to be effective.

A four pitch pitcher with that array can, but the question is whether this four pitch pitcher can. The curve is the only secondary he has at the moment that reasonably looks above average. That's gonna put a lot of pressure on the command, and while it was good in this one it wasn't so good that it was mistake-free. There was a fastball in the first that cruised in at 89 that made me cringe. 

Again, none of this is to say that Groome can't make it. His command will improve even further, and he'll probably be able to iron things like that out complete. But as you noted, the margins there are razor thin. For me, a complete non-expert in a field with many experts, it just doesn't look like enough as-is. Like I said though, he has time to figure some of this stuff out and to add to his arsenal further. We'll see.

I wonder if his velocity is still 90-92? If so, can he get it back to that 92-94 range pre-TJ. That could make difference.

I like the fact that he's still striking guys out. He did last year in AA and that continued today, 4K's in 5IP, not Walter or Bello, but not bad.

When Groome's landing his follow-through right, his delivery looks very low-effort in a good way. He's consistently very smooth in the upper body, things can get a little weird with the legs sometimes. Definitely looks more like a starter's delivery than Bello, who has more moving parts and looks like he whips his arm a little more.

Groome topping out around 93 sounds right.