Groome shakes off high school disappointment as MLB draft approaches

BARNEGAT, N.J. - Jason Groome remembers sitting at a desk in November wishing the baseball season would hurry up and get here. It was justifiable impatience given the potential of what lay ahead for the babyfaced lefthander with the burly 6-foot-6 frame and a repertoire of pitches that make middle-aged men holding radar guns salivate.

"And then it finally came, and now it's almost gone," the 17-year-old pitcher from Barnegat High School said after his final appearance on his home field Monday afternoon.

The season actually did end for Groome and his Barnegat teammates three days later, when West Deptford took advantage of some sloppy defense to score two first-inning runs and shockingly eliminated the Bengals from the South Jersey Group 2 tournament with a 2-1 victory.

It was a peculiarly fascinating and frustrating final high school season for Groome, who is a sure bet to be selected early in the first round of Major League Baseball's first-year player draft on June 9.

There was the 19-strikeout no-hitter in his second outing of the season against Central Regional, the school that produced the Leiter brothers, Mark and Al. He had double-digit strikeout totals in all six of his starts and finished the season with 90 in just 39 innings. He also posted a 1.13 ERA while allowing two or fewer hits in seven of his eight appearances.

Officially, however, Groome finished the season with as many saves as victories. He had one of each. Two early-season victories, including the no-hitter, were stripped away when it was ruled he was ineligible because of a state transfer rule. Groome had pitched for the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., as a junior after spending his freshman and sophomore years at Barnegat, where his family lives.

In addition to the two forfeits, Groome was forced to sit out 18 days after that ruling. Upon his return, he went 1-3 with a save, which would seem impossible given his searing fastball that typically sits between 92 and 95 mph and a curveball that is already good enough to buckle the knees of big-league hitters. He also flashes a change-up on occasion and figures to sharpen that tool when his professional career begins later this year.

Groome had returned from Florida vowing to lead Barnegat to a Group 2 state championship. He had pitched in the South Jersey Group 2 championship game as a sophomore and lost to Buena, 1-0. It was around that time the scouts took notice that there was something special about the young man's powerful left arm.

Dan McCoy, the Barnegat baseball coach whose son, Mark, is a pitcher in the Kansas City Royals' minor-league system, understood that this season would be unique for his team.

"Listen, how many times do you have a chance to play with and coach somebody like Jay?" McCoy said. "It's very, very rare, and to have it here at Barnegat, a small Group 2 school, it's special."

The school of around 1,000 students is just off Exit 67 of the Garden State Parkway. The summer resort of Long Beach Island is a short drive away, but this spring the top attraction in the area was Groome.

Go to a local restaurant or sports bar as baseball season approached, and it was not uncommon to hear talk about the kid from Barnegat who might just be the first player taken in the baseball draft. Southern Ocean County has a mixture of sports fans with allegiances torn between New York and Philadelphia teams. The interest in Groome among Phillies fans in the area deepened because their team holds the first overall selection.

Groome is a Boston Red Sox fan but conceded he'd love to be the No. 1 overall pick and begin his professional career near home. One of his early stops in the Phillies system would be Lakewood, which is just 26 miles away from Barnegat High School.

"Yeah, it would be pretty cool just to see all the same faces next year when I'm out there at the BlueClaws' stadium," Groome said. "I really don't have any control over that, but it would be awesome if I did end up there just to see the same people coming out there and supporting me. It would just mean that all my hard work had paid off."

As the season wore on, it seemed less and less likely that the Phillies would use the first overall pick on Groome. There was some thought that he might even drop out of the top five selections because of vague questions about his character.

"If you want to garner all that attention - No. 1 pick in the draft, high school all-American, and all those things - people are always going to look to take down the guy who is on top even if it's not true," McCoy said. "I told Jay, 'You can't get mad about it because whether it's true or not, some people are going to try to knock you down. You just have to deal with it and move forward.' "

Groome said he'd be thrilled to go in the top 10 or even the first round. He has a scholarship to Vanderbilt, but it is unlikely he will ever set foot in Nashville. He said after his final game Thursday that he has meetings scheduled with Cleveland, San Diego, and Colorado. The Rockies have the fourth pick in the draft, and the Padres have the eighth selection. The Indians pick 16th, and it is unlikely Groome will be there for them.

Despite Barnegat's disappointing season, Groome's presence generated an aura about high school baseball rarely seen in these parts. There was gridlock outside Campbell's Field in Camden as fans flocked to see Groome face Gloucester Catholic's Tyler Mondile earlier this month. Groome lost that game, 1-0, on an unearned run, but he savored the memory.

"I had never seen that field before, so when I saw that bridge in the background, that was such a beautiful field," he said. "Unfortunately, errors came at the wrong time, but I was just happy with the turnout."

Catcher Max Ritner, a senior, had the best seat in the house whenever Groome pitched.

"It has been fun," Ritner said. "It is not as hard as people might think to catch him. He throws so well and right where I want it, so I just put my glove somewhere, and he hits it. Getting crossed up isn't fun, though. I got crossed up one time, and that was very scary."

On the other hand, it was a blast for Ritner to watch and listen as hitters came to home plate.

"There was a lot of 'Please give me a fastball over the middle, or could I get a change-up?' " the catcher said. "Essentially, they're just prolonging the inevitable. You're going to be out regardless, so you might as well get it over with."

In a relief appearance Monday, Groome struck out Middle Township's Ethan Schuster on four pitches. After tipping a fastball on the third pitch of his at-bat, Schuster stepped out of the batter's box and looked at some high school kids behind the backstop who were giving him a hard time. Schuster shrugged and smiled as if to say, "You think you could hit him?"

Occasionally, however, Groome would allow a hit, and it was always cause for celebration.

"We had some intrasquad games during Jay's suspension, and I got a hit off him, and I did the same thing," McCoy said. "And I'm 44 years old."

West Deptford cleanup hitter Ryan Baglivo delivered the two-out hit that led to two runs in Groome's final high school game Thursday, and he said he'd remember it forever.

"Hopefully when I'm 29, 30 years old I'll be sitting on my couch with my kids pointing at the TV and saying, 'I batted in two runs against that man,' " Baglivo said. "He is by far the best pitcher I have ever hit against, and I have no doubt that he might be the hardest pitcher I will ever face."

Groome's senior season at Barnegat is over now, and like that fastball he threw past so many hitters, it went by really fast.

bbrookover@phillynews.com

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