New 100 MPH + Prospect - Taylor Grover

[Tony-OH]

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/taylor-grovers-perfectly-crazy-year-ends-with-baltimore-orioles/

Don't know much about this guy besides what the article talks about, but it's pretty rare to find a guy with a triple digit fastball in the minor league portion of the draft. Should be an interesting guy to follow in 2019.

[Moose Milligan]

So why was he available?  I'm assuming he can't locate it well.  Nice to have that kind of arm in the system.

[Luke-OH]

13 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

So why was he available?  I'm assuming he can't locate it well.  Nice to have that kind of arm in the system.

He was a moderately successful guy in the Red Sox system, made it to AA as a multi-inning reliever, got stuck there. Got released in 2017 and signed on with the Diamondbacks in 2018, was release after spring training. Pitched in the independent leagues, added velocity, got signed by the Reds to a minor league deal, but wasn't added to the AAA roster and therefore was available. 

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Luke-OH said:

He was a moderately successful guy in the Red Sox system, made it to AA as a multi-inning reliever, got stuck there. Got released in 2017 and signed on with the Diamondbacks in 2018, was release after spring training. Pitched in the independent leagues, added velocity, got signed by the Reds to a minor league deal, but wasn't added to the AAA roster and therefore was available. 

Is this a guy we might see in Baltimore in 2019?

[Luke-OH]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

Is this a guy we might see in Baltimore in 2019?

Yeah, it's possible, I'd imagine they will try a bunch of arms in 2019 and Grover will be throwing heat in Norfolk, I'd imagine he'll get a shot with a solid AAA performance. 

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

Yeah, it's possible, I'd imagine they will try a bunch of arms in 2019 and Grover will be throwing heat in Norfolk, I'd imagine he'll get a shot with a solid AAA performance. 

Does he have command issues?

[Luke-OH]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Does he have command issues?

I've only seen short clips, but I'd imagine he's not an average command guy or he'd be in the majors already. 

[Luke-OH]

His walk rates are a little high, but not anything crazy, so I'd guess he's around the zone, but scattershot. 

[Tony-OH]

http://redsminorleagues.com/2018/11/23/reds-sign-taylor-grover-to-minor-league-deal/

 

[Aristotelian]

When Grover was coming out of South Carolina-Aiken he was able to touch 94-95 mph. A steady diet of exercise, weighted ball work and other exercises helped Grover steadily gain velocity. He touched 100 mph for the first time in the summer of 2017 while pitching for Double-A Portland. By this summer, he was getting to 100 mph on a regular basis.

Hopefully that's all it was.

[cboemmeljr]

On 12/14/2018 at 4:07 PM, Luke-OH said:

His walk rates are a little high, but not anything crazy, so I'd guess he's around the zone, but scattershot. 

Luke, would you say based on what you've seen, that he might be similar to Jesus Liranzo?  Good speed but lacking command?

[Luke-OH]

28 minutes ago, cboemmeljr said:

Luke, would you say based on what you've seen, that he might be similar to Jesus Liranzo?  Good speed but lacking command?

I haven't seen more than brief clips of him pitching, so it'd be hard for me to compare. Liranzo had command issues, but the big problem for me with Liranzo was that the fastball didn't play like up as you'd expect with it's velocity. People who've seen Grover also say he'll throw a slider that flashes plus (although at Grover's age, it's probably foolish to expect it to become more consistent moving forward) while Liranzo had an average slider on a good day and those were few and far between. 

Edit: I never saw anything in Liranzo in multiple live looks or dozens of video looks. It was velocity without movement, an out pitch, or command. 

[Cumberbundy]

On 12/14/2018 at 3:14 PM, Moose Milligan said:

So why was he available?  I'm assuming he can't locate it well.  Nice to have that kind of arm in the system.

Same reason 104mph Cy Liranzo was free :/?

 

 

[Cumberbundy]

On 12/16/2018 at 8:49 AM, Luke-OH said:

I haven't seen more than brief clips of him pitching, so it'd be hard for me to compare. Liranzo had command issues, but the big problem for me with Liranzo was that the fastball didn't play like up as you'd expect with it's velocity. People who've seen Grover also say he'll throw a slider that flashes plus (although at Grover's age, it's probably foolish to expect it to become more consistent moving forward) while Liranzo had an average slider on a good day and those were few and far between. 

Edit: I never saw anything in Liranzo in multiple live looks or dozens of video looks. It was velocity without movement, an out pitch, or command. 

[Cumberbundy]

On 12/16/2018 at 8:09 AM, Aristotelian said:

When Grover was coming out of South Carolina-Aiken he was able to touch 94-95 mph. A steady diet of exercise, weighted ball work and other exercises helped Grover steadily gain velocity. He touched 100 mph for the first time in the summer of 2017 while pitching for Double-A Portland. By this summer, he was getting to 100 mph on a regular basis.

Hopefully that's all it was.

The talent these days is unbelievable, if your 103mph heater is flat, it won’t miss bats - Jordan Hicks was well under a k per inning before he made an adjustment to get more life on his fb. A flat 103 just doesn’t get it done these days.