Michael Grove is the Dodgers number 15 prospect in the Dodgers Top 30 Prospect list. He stands 6’3 weighing 200 pounds as a 24-year-old. Grove, a right-handed pitcher, was drafted in the second round of the 2018 MLB draft and is currently pitching for the AA Tulsa Drillers. He is, as of 7/18/2021, 0-4 with a 9.73 ERA. He has 46 strikeouts and has given up 32 walks.
His pitch mix is Fastball, Curveball, Slider, and a Changeup. Before he had Tommy John surgery, he was throwing his fastball around 96 MPH. After Tommy John, he is now throwing it at 93 MPH. Michael Grove has incredible control of his fastball, throwing it wherever he wants over the plate with ease. Grove’s fastball is most effective up in the zone. Grove compliments his Fastball with a beautiful 12/6 movement on his curveball. Just like the fastball, he can throw the curve effectively against lefties and righties. He only uses his Slider against right-handed batters as a good third option behind the fastball and curveball. The pitch doesn’t move well horizontally, but is effective vertically, making it more of a slurve. The pitch fools hitters getting them swinging at pitches out of the strike zone consistently. Grove’s changeup is not very effective and needs further development. He overthrows the pitch consistently and it looks like a slow fastball and batters crush it. Only a couple of times in each outing does it looks like an average changeup. I wish he would stop throwing that pitch because it doesn’t have a chance to be a plus pitch. Grove can be very effective focusing on the fastball, curveball, and slider and making those pitches elite.
Michael Grove has an ETA to the Big-League staff of 2022. If that does come to fruition, it will be as a reliever. If transitions to a reliever maybe can recover those few miles per hour on his fastball that he lost. The swing and miss stuff on his pitches can be extremely valuable to a bullpen. His command is a huge plus. He can also throw multiple innings so he would be perfect in a situation where your starter only throws a couple of innings.