Gino Groover and Tommy Troy named Fall Stars

Scouting reports on two of the Diamondbacks' best prospects in their current farm system.

The Diamondbacks will be sending of their top prospects to the annual Fall Stars Game at Sloan Park this season. Infielders Gino Groover and Tommy Troy, who will rank as the No. 2 and 3 prospects in my upcoming Top 10 D-backs Prospects list.

Due to injuries that essentially wiped out half their 2024 season, both Groover and Troy had the chance to participate in the Arizona Fall League. Both players have performed well here in Arizona, showing that they are ready to move on to the next level.

Here’s a quick scouting report on the two top prospects:

Gino Groover

Hit 60, Power 55, Field 45, Run 40, Arm 50, Overall 55

A broken wrist in a collision at first base knocked Groover out for nearly three months, but he made up quickly for lost time. With Hillsboro, he slashed .272/.360/.457 (129 wRC+) with 7 home runs before a promotion to Double-A Amarillo for 13 games. In 15 games in the fall league, he’s batting .370 with a solid 11/7 strikeout to walk ratio. While the power has not manifested in the form of extra-base hits, he’s been performing well.

Groover is the best pure hitter in the organization, with the ability to get the barrel of the ball on most pitches in the strike zone. His approach is to try to hit the ball hard, as he feels that leads to good results. From his batted ball data in the Arizona Fall League, he has a hard-hit rate (exit velocities of 95 MPH or greater) on 40.7% of the balls put into play. It’s a small sample size, but offers a glimpse of his skill set.

Not only does he hit the ball hard at a solid rate, he exhibits a level of maturity beyond your typical 22-year-old playing his first season in professional baseball. This quote from him always stood out in his ability to handle the grind of a game and season.

“As a hitter, you have to accept you can't hit every pitch, you can't hit every zone. If I'm hunting middle-away, I can't expect to hit 95 inside and if I'm hunting inside, I can't expect to hit the sweepers going away from me. So I think you have to be okay with realizing sometimes that your approach is not always going to be correct in that time, but it's baseball and that's what makes it so hard essentially. Being willing, I'm going to say don't be willing to accept the failure but being willing to accept that your plan will not always be correct. For the most part, I just go out there, stick to my plan, and I don't really deviate from it. As long as you stay solid in your plan, you take swings at what you're looking for, you're able to get your best swing off when you're looking for it.” - Gino Groover on approach

While he’s consistent with his approach, he has shown the ability to adjust based on how a pitcher is throwing that particular day. One noted example came on October 10th against Mesa. He picked on the fact the pitcher was over reliant on his slider, so he sat on one and singled on a line drive through the 4 hole.

The fall league did very little to answer any questions about his long-term defensive home. With Christian Walker hitting free agency this offseason and Eugenio Suarez the next, the organization has holes to fill at Groover’s likely two destinations.

I’m a bit skeptical about his ability to stick at third base but they can afford to give him one more season to see if he can improve his footwork and release. The difference in position runs between 1B (-9.5) and 3B (+2) is 11.5 runs per 1,350 innings played, so he’d be more valuable if he can handle the hot corner on an everyday basis.

Tommy Troy

Hit 50, Power 50, Field 55, Run 55, Arm 50, Overall 55

A hamstring injury and a lengthy rehab stint at the complex kept Troy out for 2 1/2 months. He struggled early in the season but finished the season strong. Over his last 24 games (105 PA), Troy batted .296 with 3 home runs, and a 22/15 strikeout to walk ratio.

“I feel like it’s one of the most important tools in baseball, baseball is mainly mental. Being able to handle failure, especially for a long period of time, how do you get yourself out of that? Every time you do struggle, finding a quicker way to bounce back just so the valleys aren’t as low, that’s how I like to interpret it. Just keep working and know you’ll always come out the other side.” - Tommy Troy on regular season struggles

The fall league has played out similarly. He started 1-for-25 with 11 strikeouts before catching fire the second week. Since he’s 22-for-54 (.407) at the plate with 8 extra-base hits (5 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs).

Looking into Troy’s batted ball data, the obvious takeaway is the high amount of line drive and fly ball contact. 21 of the 32 balls he’s put into play (65.6%) are classified as such. While he doesn’t have a high hard-hit rate (28.1%), when he does hit the ball hard it comes at the ideal launch angles. Troy’s 5 barrels is more than the combined total of Groover and Kristian Robinson (3). On such contact, Troy is 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, a triple, and a home run.

There are plenty of potential avenues where Troy could fit in defensively. He could be an everyday player at second or third base, or could develop into a utility infielder depending on how other infielder prospect develop. He spent most of the regular season at shortstop and has experience playing third base in his draft year for Stanford.

More Arizona Fall League Coverage

Check out some of the other stories and analysis on the Diamondbacks playing in the Arizona Fall League in 2024.

Michael McDermott has been writing about the Arizona Diamondbacks, and their minor league system, for 9 seasons for AZ Snake Pit, Diamondbacks on SI, and Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X at x.com/michaelmcdmlb