Gino Groover on Arizona Fall League experience
Groover talked about his fun experience in the Arizona Fall League, the lack of slug, and playing for a championship.
Gino Groover showcased why he was one of the top prospects in the Diamondbacks organization in the Arizona Fall League. The 22-year-old is hitting .345 with 10 RBI in 16 games (67 PA), showcasing his plus hit tool that carries his overall profile.
“I’ve had fun,” said Groover. “I come out here, you play against some of the best people, some of the best arms. At the end of the day, you go out there, it’s your best vs. their best, whether you’re feeling your best that day. I just go out there, whatever I have that day working, that’s what I battle with.”
As mentioned in his Fall Stars scouting report, he is the best hitter in the organization in terms of getting the barrel to the ball. Looking at some of the results, the biggest takeaway from the negative side is the lack of slug. Groover himself noted he’s not slugging the way he wanted to, as he has just one extra-base hit in the Fall League at the time of this writing, a weakly hit ground ball (73.6 MPH exit velocity, 6 degree launch angle) that snuck past first base.
“It’s more to hitting than that, obviously that’s just a plus. But even through that, maybe like the good batted balls are not falling. There’s been a bunch of ones that’ve been hard-hit, just low launch and stuff like that.”
While there are only 30 batted balls to evaluate from Statcast data due to only two of the six teams having that available, it corroborates with what Groover said. He’s done a solid job of hitting the ball hard, a goal of his every time he swings the bat, with 40% of the contact having an exit velocity of at least 95 MPH. 7 of those 12 hard-hit balls logged an exit velocity of at least 100 MPH, and only two of them had a launch angle of at least 20 degrees. Both resulted in loud outs, with the second chasing his former teammate, Andrew Pintar, to the fence at Salt River Fields.
“I think it’s been pretty good. Personally, I think I’ve had a couple of baseballs I’ve hit hard and I had a pretty good launch and I just can’t find grass out there at the moment. But it’d be like that sometimes times. Even through all that, I’m still able to make something shape for my team. Whether it’s just I’m getting on base a lot (.415 OBP), bringing in a lot of runs, or scoring a lot of runs. Like in runs and RBI, I think I’m in double digits for both.”
Getting more consistent game power out of Groover will be important, as he’s likely to end up moving off third base. He lacks the foot speed and range to successfully convert to an outfielder, so first base is the likely option if he plays a position. The difference in positional runs between third (+2) and first base (-9.5) is 11.5 runs per 1,350 innings in the field according to Baseball Reference. All else held constant, that difference accounts for a 1.1-1.3 WAR drop, a very significant total.
At the Fall Stars Game, Troy complimented Groover’s hitting abilities, saying he “rolls out of bed and hits every day”. Upon hearing that, Groover said, “I like that actually, that’s pretty good.”
The two top prospects have been together since joining the D-backs organization as their top two draft selections in 2023. They were teammates much of the year in Hillsboro before Groover spent a 13-game cameo with Double-A Amarillo to close the season.
“He’s been with me the whole journey, just like I’ve been with him his whole journey. We get to know each other, so I appreciate him saying that. Especially because he’s there through the highs and lows. Vice versa, I’m there for him through his highs and lows. So I appreciate that coming from him, especially from a guy who sees the work that gets put into it every day.”
With another win in the books, the Salt River Rafters are 15-12 and closing in on an opportunity to win an Arizona Fall League Championship. As things stand, they are tied with Glendale for 2nd place in the standings, and their magic number to clinch a spot in Friday’s play-in game in Scottsdale is down to 2.
“I think that’d be a very great opportunity for me, the team, and everybody out here. When we come out here, I think everybody’s out here for different reasonings. But then once you get a little deeper into it, you start seeing how the standings are shaking out and stuff like that.”
Depending on how long Salt River’s season lasts, Groover will get somewhere between 80-90 more reps at the plate in the fall league. Adding to his 264 PA to the regular season, he’ll finish between 340 and 350 in his first full year in the system.
Check out the full interview down below!
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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