LuJames Groover
2B North Carolina State
2022 NC State stat line - 57-G, 236-AB, .364, 10-HR
2-1-23 - Pittsburgh Pirates Draft: Early Look at Potential College Player to Watch
The Pittsburgh Pirates have the no. 1 pick in this year’s draft, and while everyone is going to be arguing about Chase Dollander and Dylan Crews and who goes no. 1 overall, I want to take a look at some other players that could be available later in the draft. Today, I want to take a look at North Carolina State infielder LuJames Groover III. He’s a prospect who could be on the rise next season and potentially end up in the early second round.
Groover put up some impressive hitting numbers during his 2022 campaign. In 274 plate appearances, the infielder hit .364/.440/.568. The right-handed hitter swatted ten home runs but hustled out 16 doubles. He ended the year with a .204 isolated slugging percentage, but he also displayed solid plate discipline. Groover walked 28 times with 44 strikeouts, leading to a 10.2% walk rate and 16.1% strikeout rate.
The issue is that Groover is positionless. He’s mostly played first base in college but has logged plenty of games at second base, left field, and right field. Groover has also seen a game at third base, and it is the position he’ll play next season. But he’s not displayed any defensive prowess at any of the positions over his college career.
But Groover draws major praise for his approach to the plate. He works counts, and he makes quality contact quite often. MLB Pipeline emphasizes his feel for contact and ability to hit lasers across the diamond. He easily has enough bat speed to generate 20+ home run power. If he adds more leverage to his swing, he could add even more pop.
1-23-23 - Joe Doyle @JoeDoyleMiLB
LuJames "Gino" Groover III is probably the best player in the country that nobody is talking about. Dude is coming off a .364/.440/.568 campaign. Then he hit like .600 this fall. Reportedly looked pretty darn good at 3B too. Not a lot of holes in his game/approach/bat speed. https://t.co/0SUG3a5UCb
11-12-22 - 2023 MLB Draft – Top 50 College Prospects -
https://www.prospects1500.com/mlb-draft/2023-mlb-draft-top-50-college-prospects/
45. LuJames Groover III, 1B/2B/OF, NC State – Groover is a hitter! He has a plus hit tool and swings when he gets a pitch he likes, leading to very few strikeouts but also few walks. He has shown the ability to drive the ball, but mainly in the gaps but there is at least average, and potentially more, home run power in his projection. The biggest question with Groover is where the heck he is gonna play. He first base primarily a season ago, but he is far from a prototypical first baseman. He has seen time at third, second, left, and right, with the most hopeful projection is him becoming an average 2B. If he sticks at first, he is a mid-day two guy, if he can prove he can play second, he just might move into the end of day one.
10-19-22 - https://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2022/1/15/2023-mlb-draft-prospects-fx4td?s=03 -
64 IF
LuJames Groover III
North Carolina State
"Gino" Groover can hit. He can really, really hit. And he's only going to get better. After tearing things up at Charlotte, he transferred to NC State where the bat has forced itself into an anchor role, rotating around 1B, 2B and 3B. Groover produces huge exit velocities without sacrificing his approach at the plate. He keeps his strikeouts low, though he's in no rush whatsoever to draw any walks either. The next step in Groover's development will be lifting the ball with more frequency. Right now, he blisters the ball on the ground and scorches line drives up the middle, occasionally pummeling a ball over the fence. Turning that raw power into plus game power is his next bucket.
10-16-22 - 2023 MLB Draft: an early look at the ACC
http://dugoutedgebaseball.blogspot.com/2022/10/2023-mlb-draft-early-look-at-acc.html?m=1&s=03 -
10. 2B/IF LuJames Groover, North Carolina State.
Bat: R. Throw: R. 6'2", 210 lbs. Born 4/16/2002. Hometown: Morrow, GA.
2022: 10 HR, .364/.440/.568, 4 SB, 44/28 K/BB in 57 games.
There is a saying that hitters hit, and that certainly applies to LuJames Groover. He began his career at Charlotte but transferred after one season to NC State, where he was one of their best hitters and figures to be the centerpiece in the Wolfpack lineup now with Tommy White off to LSU. Groover is a professional hitter through and through, one who makes contact as consistently and with as much authority as anybody in the conference. He struck out just 16.1% of the time in 2022 while producing high exit velocities, meaning lots of scorching grounders and screaming line drives. That's the Atlanta-area product's approach for now, with a flat swing geared towards those hard line drives that helped him hit .364 at NC State and previously .351 as a freshman at Charlotte. Though he doesn't have much loft in his right handed swing, he can turn on the ball when he needs to and finds such a high volume of barrels that he did run into ten home runs last year, and he has a chance at above average power in pro ball if he decides to make that a larger part of his game. Given his innate feel for hitting, he should be able to if he wants to. Defensively, Groover is more of a question mark. He appeared at first base, second base, and both corner outfield spots for NC State last year and hasn't really turned heads at any of them, so barring positive developments on that front, the pressure will be on his bat. He's a decent athlete that can handle himself around the diamond, but his best case scenario is as a bat-first second baseman and there's a chance he ends up at first base for good.
All the 2023 Draft Prospects in the Mack’s Mets database can be viewed by going to www.macksmets.blogspot.com and clicking on 2023 DRAFT PROSPECT DATABASE found on the top, left of the front page of the site.
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