Diamondbacks Prospect Gino Groover Discusses the Controlled Violence in His Swing

Gino Groover is one of the most promising prospects in the Arizona Diamondbacks system. He is also one of the most intriguing. When profiling him for our D-backs list back in May, Eric Longenhagen wrote that the 22-year-old third baseman “was among the 2023 draft’s more volatile and exciting prospects.” Bullish on his potential, our lead prospect analyst added that “2024 might be a breakout season” for the right-handed-hitting North Carolina State University product.

Fate intervened. As Eric explained, Groover ended up having surgery to repair a displaced radius fracture suffered in a collision with a baserunner at first base, this after just four games with High-A Hillsboro. He missed three months, did a rehab stint in the Arizona Complex League, then rejoined the Hops on July 19.

He hit well upon his return. The former second rounder logged a 129 wRC+ over 175 plate appearances with the Northwest League club, and he followed that up with a 178 wRC+ over 55 plate appearances with Double-A Amarillo. Counting his eight games in the ACL, Groover finished the season with a .281/.367/.484 slash line, 10 home runs, and a 133 wRC+. And two other numbers merit mention: His strikeout rate was 13.6%, while his walk rate was 11.4%.

Grover is currently making up for missed development time in the Arizona Fall League, where he is slashing .370/.444/.389 over 63 plate appearances for the Salt River Rafters. He talked hitting prior to a game in mid-October.

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David Laurila: How would you define yourself as a hitter? Also, do you feel that you’ve established an identity at this early stage of your career?

Gino Groover: “I mean, I think everybody is different, but finding yourself as a hitter — what your strengths are, and playing to your strengths — is something you don’t really want to deviate away from. I’ve always had a hit-first profile, letting my power come later as I’ve gotten bigger, stronger, and a little older.

“I have my approach, and, especially at this level, you can’t be afraid to be wrong sometimes. You obviously can’t go up there and expect to hit everything, so you don’t want to deviate from your approach. If you do, you’ll get caught in between and won’t hit either heaters or offspeed. So, whatever my approach is, I stick to it. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong, and we go from there, playing it by ear with whatever I’m seeing.”

Laurila: Your approach is more or less based on the pitcher you’re facing…

Groover: “Yes, sir. And whatever I’m seeing, as well. You may have a game plan going in — what a pitcher’s tendencies are, and what they like to throw — but it may not happen that day. He might have a different pitch working, so you’re also using your eyes. You need to know when to do both, and I think that’s the hardest part. You have to be able to adjust from your pregame approach and put yourself in a better position based off what your eyes are telling you.”

Laurila: That said, what is your baseline approach?

Groover: “If I was to go up to hit and had no information on the pitcher at all, I would just get on a fastball early in the count. I’m probably going to be looking at right-center, oppo gap, just so I can stay on that pitch, not being sure what his stuff looks like. That gives me the best window to be able to put in my A-swing.”

Laurila: Something our lead prospect analyst wrote about you earlier this year caught my attention. He said that you have rare hand speed.

Groover: “Is that a good thing?”

Laurila: Well, it’s certainly not a bad thing.

Groover: “Yes, sir.”

Laurila: He also wrote that your contact rates are shockingly good for how hard you swing. Does that make sense to you?

Groover: “I’d say it does. As a hitter, you obviously want to do damage, and if you’re able to put yourself in a position to do damage while also making contact at a high rate, that gives you the highest chance for success. You’re going to fail a lot more than you succeed, but hitting the ball hard gives you the highest chance of getting on base. You’re not going to hit the ball hard every time, but it is one of the few things we can control as a hitter.

“Controlled violence is essentially all that it is. You don’t want to be out of control and just swinging as hard as you can, because then you lose your mechanics and everything you work for in-game. But you don’t want to swing soft and get the bat knocked out of your hand. With so much velo out there — pitchers are throwing 95 to 100 [mph] on a regular basis now — you have to be strong. It’s about meeting in the middle. If you’re able to control the violence you want to swing with, it allows you to… at the end of the day, I learned to hit first. Like I said, I’ve always had a hit-first profile, letting my power come later.”

Laurila: Can you elaborate on growing into more power?

Groover: “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned how my body moves. I’ve learned to control my body. I’ve been able to hone that in and focus on, ‘OK, I want to swing the bat hard, as well as make contact.’ A good example might be Ronald Acuña Jr. He swings the bat really hard, but he’s also very accurate with his barrel. That’s all it is: barrel accuracy. There are people in the big leagues who don’t swing hard, but they get the barrel to the baseball. Essentially, that is what matters. But if you can manipulate your barrel swinging hard, swinging fast… at the end of the day, whatever works for you is what you should focus on.”

Laurila: Do you have a two-strike approach?

Groover: “Yes. I don’t really spread out, but I do kind of choke up on the bat a little bit and just throw the barrel. I actually choke up on the bat to begin with, because I don’t like the way the knob feels on my hand. That’s always been something I’ve dealt with. But at the end of the day, it’s a fastball-and-adjust mentality. You don’t want to get blown away with heaters. You have a better chance of adjusting to an offspeed pitch than you do sitting on offspeed and then trying to hit 100.

“Whether you’re facing a sinkerballer or somebody who has good four-seam carry — stuff like that — you maybe want to eliminate certain parts of the zone. You have to be willing to get beat. You can’t hit both sides of the plate for power, or even just in general. You have to choose a side. I’m usually looking on the outer half, middle to middle-away, especially if I’m facing a righty, because I’m going to get a lot of offspeed stuff going away from me. You’re sometimes going to get beat inside — a guy might paint 95 on the black — but that’s just the way it is.”

Laurila: Another thing our lead prospect analyst wrote — this was early in the season — was that you might be a swing tweak away from a huge offensive breakout. Do you agree with that?

Groover: “Yeah. I’ve pretty much been working on cleaning up my path, creating some more leverage in my swing. I’m on the flatter side of swings, so while not necessarily changing my swing, I have worked on being more consistent with my path to get the ball in the air a lot more. I was able to make a good adjustment after coming back from the injury. I was able to tweak my path, be more consistent with it, to get the ball in the air more often. My power numbers definitely ticked up with that, which is a good thing.”

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Earlier “Talks Hitting” interviews can found through these links: Jo Adell, Jeff Albert, Greg Allen, Nolan Arenado, Aaron Bates, Jacob Berry, Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Justice Bigbie, Cavan Biggio, Charlie Blackmon, JJ Bleday, Bobby Bradley, Will Brennan, Jay Bruce, Triston Casas, Matt Chapman, Michael Chavis, Garrett Cooper, Gavin Cross, Jacob Cruz, Nelson Cruz, Paul DeJong, Josh Donaldson, Brendan Donovan, Donnie Ecker, Rick Eckstein, Drew Ferguson, Justin Foscue, Michael Fransoso, Ryan Fuller, Joey Gallo, Paul Goldschmidt, Devlin Granberg, Matt Hague, Andy Haines, Mitch Haniger, Robert Hassell III, Austin Hays, Nico Hoerner, Jackson Holliday, Spencer Horwitz, Rhys Hoskins, Eric Hosmer, Jacob Hurtubise, Tim Hyers, Connor Joe, Jace Jung, Josh Jung, Jimmy Kerr, Heston Kjerstad, Steven Kwan, Trevor Larnach, Doug Latta, Royce Lewis, Evan Longoria, Joey Loperfido, Michael Lorenzen, Gavin Lux, Dave Magadan, Trey Mancini, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Marcelo Mayer, Hunter Mense, Owen Miller, Colson Montgomery, Tre’ Morgan, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, Daniel Murphy, Lars Nootbaar, Logan O’Hoppe, Vinnie Pasquantino, Graham Pauley, David Peralta, Luke Raley, Julio Rodríguez, Brent Rooker, Thomas Saggese, Anthony Santander, Drew Saylor, Nolan Schanuel, Marcus Semien, Giancarlo Stanton, Spencer Steer, Trevor Story, Fernando Tatis Jr., Spencer Torkelson, Mark Trumbo, Brice Turang, Justin Turner, Trea Turner, Josh VanMeter, Robert Van Scoyoc, Chris Valaika, Zac Veen, Alex Verdugo, Mark Vientos, Matt Vierling, Luke Voit, Anthony Volpe, Joey Votto, Christian Walker, Jared Walsh, Jordan Westburg, Jesse Winker, Bobby Witt Jr. Mike Yastrzemski, Nick Yorke, Kevin Youkilis

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