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Groomed to be next Kershaw? NJ hurler has high hopes
- Updated: May 19, 2016
BARNEGAT, N.J. — A small hamlet in southern New Jersey with a growing population of roughly 20,000 people, Barnegat Township has never seen anyone quite like Jason Groome.
The 6-foot-6 left-hander, ranked No. 1 on MLBPipeline.com’s Top 100 Draft Prospects list, might be one of several players being considered at the top of this year’s Draft. But he’s a once-in-a-lifetime type in these parts.
• 2016 MLB Draft: June 9-11 on MLB Network, MLB.com
It’s easy to tell that’s how Groome is regarded. Students wave to him when he walks down the hall at Barnegat High School. There are constant requests for Groome’s time, like the local supermarket asking if he could come for an autograph session to help announce a special. A marquee matchup against Tyler Mondile of nearby Gloucester Catholic was turned into a charity event, drawing more than 6,000 people and raising over $32,000. Groome was mobbed, first by media, then by autograph seekers — kids and adults — and he lost the game, 1-0.
“It’s been really exciting, with everything that happened, just me coming back home,” Groome said. “My family’s loving it, I’m loving it. I just made the right decision coming back.”
Groome spent his junior season honing his craft at IMG Academy, a multisport training and education complex in Bradenton, Fla. The competition and the instruction were clearly better there, but Groome felt a pull to come back north. You can take the kid out of Jersey, but you can’t take the Jersey out of the kid.
“Besides the Florida weather, there was nothing [driving me] to go back to IMG,” Groome said. “I went there for six and a half months. I did what I needed to do. I got bigger, faster and stronger, but I just felt it was only right coming back to Barnegat.”
Groome might have known in his heart it was a good decision. It was cemented the first day he walked back into his high school, a prodigal son returned. Groome had wanted it to be a surprise, and the reaction he got erased any lingering doubts he may have had about …
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