April 10th, 2019 at 9:00 am 
by 0799291000348 His pitching line from the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes box score for April 8, 2019 reads:
- Three innings pitched
- One hit
- One walk
- Four strike outs
- No runs
- 46 pitches
- 27 strikes
A good start to the 2019 season for Dodgers 2018 second-round draft pick Michael Grove. Actually, a good start for his – or anyone’s – professional career.
When the Dodgers drafted the Wheeling, West Virginia native out of West Virginia University on June 4, 2018, he was still rehabbing from June 2017 Tommy John surgery and did not pitch competitively for the team last year.
“I had been playing sports basically my whole life, so when I was out for 22 months, it was tough,” Grove told Wheeling’s The Intelligencer during a spring training phone interview. “Sitting there and watching every day (during the college season) believing that you can help and contribute, but knowing you can’t is tough.”
Despite being on the shelf for nearly two years, the Dodgers selected the then 21-year-old right-hander based solely on his athleticism, plus fastball, plus slider, spin rate, and the command they scouted prior to his elbow injury. Baseball America described the 6′-3″ / 200-pound pitcher as a “superb athlete … with an explosive delivery … easy 93 to 96 mph fastball … and a power slider with vertical drop.” MLB pipeline ranked Grove as the Dodgers 15th overall prospect and Baseball America their 18th, even though he had yet to throw a single professional pitch.
“Baseball is now my job, but I still plan to approach the game the same way and try to have fun with it,” said Grove.
(Photo courtesy of The Intelligencer)
It is no longer surprising when the Dodgers draft a pitcher who has either undergone Tommy John surgery or is scheduled for the procedure. The depth throughout the team’s minor league system allows the Dodgers to draft talented pitchers with injuries and patiently wait for them to recover and reach their potential. Grove joins Drillers right-hander Mitchell White and current Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler and left-hander Caleb Ferguson among the Dodgers Tommy John draft fraternity.
With a few more outings like the one last Monday, look for Michael Grove to move up quickly in the Dodgers prospect rankings.
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First caught wind of Grove in a WVU upload of him pitching what was a near no-hit performance (before he finally got shut down due to forearm issues that season). Fastball was explosive coming out of his hand, true strikeout pitch due to its exceptionally high spin rate and ability to command it. Slider was equally as electric, almost drops like a split-finger fastball if you can believe that. Thing I liked most about him though was that he doesn’t waste time delivering a pitch. He’s ALL-BUSINESS out there on the mound.
I can see why the Dodgers were willing to risk letting last year’s 1st round pick JT Ginn go to honor his college commitment in order to sign Grove (sort of made up for that by getting touted RHP prospect Josiah Gray from the Reds in that Kemp/Puig/Wood/Farmer deal this past offseason). Besides, their track history of drafting pitchers with TJ surgery in their medical records has been largely successful indeed. Now the only question regarding Grove is, will he be groomed long-term as a mid-rotation arm or a high-leverage/late-inning bullpen option??? Only time will tell at this point…
I watched Grove pitch in a spring training minor league practice game. Very composed on the mound, smooth delivery — seemed effortless. All he needs to stay a starter is a third pitch he can command. According to reports he worked on change-up in off season, but I would not be surprised to see him use a cutter.
If he has been busy working on a third pitch he can go to with confidence, he’s gonna move at least as quickly as Tony Gonsolin did prior. Doesn’t hurt that his athleticism allows him to not struggle repeating his delivery as much as other young pitchers.
another pitcher to follow, Mitchell White. Injuries at the start of last season, then mechanics issues effected his overall performance until the end of the season. First game this season was excellent.
Well aware of White. I like him quite a bit. Premium stuff when he’s healthy, which wasn’t the case last year until like the final month of the regular season down at Tulsa where it finally returned all the way back for him. Like Lux, he should also be on the move to OKC just waiting for a shot pretty soon (barring any further health-related setbacks, of course). Man, just how deep was that 2016 Draft for the Dodgers??? They got like 10 players left from that group that could very well make it to the bigs at some point, geez…
I really am enjoying the minor league talk over here. It’s highly informative as I don’t follow this area of the club as well as maybe I could…I tried to watch MilbTv, but had a hard time hearing it, as well as seeing what was actually happening. I did watch Santana pitch at Red Bird Stadium in Nashville, I believe? Things were kind of blurry.
We have always been proud of our MiLB coverage, first when Harold was writing for us and now Jesse. I also do a lot of stuff on the Dodgers minor league affiliates. In fact, I will be at the Quakes home opener on Thursday night.
I enjoyed the commentary section in these threads as well the threads as whole have been informative. I look forward to reading more in the coming days. I just put y’all in my favorites.