Phillies meet with Barnegat southpaw Jason Groome

PHILADELPHIA – Even though the 2016 Major League Baseball amateur draft is seven months away, the Philadelphia Phillies are making necessary preparations this offseason ahead of their first overall pick, the first of its kind for the franchise since its 1998 selection of outfielder Pat Burrell.

On Monday, the Phillies met with one of their possible selections, 17-year-old southpaw Jason Groome, a senior at Barnegat High School in Ocean County, New Jersey.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports shared a photo from Groome's private Instagram account from the meeting.

Groome, wearing his Barnegat leather baseball jacket, is shown on the field alongside his 3-year-old brother, Chris.

The photo was captioned: "Don't worry bout it bro, I got it #dreamchasin #hometownkid."

Groome returned to Barnegat for his senior season after spending one year at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. There, he was mentored by eight-year Major League veteran and former Phillie from 1995-1996, LHP Steve Frey, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

IMG Baseball Academy director Dan Simonds described to The Inquirer what a typical day was like for Groome at the academy.

The lifestyle at IMG is more like college than high school, Simonds said. Groome's schedule was intense. He took classes from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. After 45 minutes for lunch, practice lasted until 4. Then came yoga, Pilates, and sessions on such topics as leadership and nutrition. Dinner was followed by a 90-minute team study session.

Groome finished the year at IMG 5-0 with an 0.98 ERA, 77 strikeouts and nine walks over 43 innings.

"I think this Jason Groome out of Barnegat is supposed to be a very good player," said Dan Baker, the public address announcer for the Phillies since 1972.

"I think one of the issues that we had, up until a couple of years ago, it seemed like for about a decade our No. 1 draft pick didn’t turn out so good. That’s a pick you have to get right. It looks like we did it – J.P. Crawford was a real good pick, Aaron Nola was a real good pick," Baker added. "During that decade where it seemed like we didn’t have as good luck with those picks, a lot of those kids were high school players. They are less projectable. There’s the potential that the guy can be really good, but it’s harder to project as opposed to a college player, who’s now played a couple of years at the college level. You have more of a track record, and more of a way to figure out if this guy has what it takes to be a big league player, let alone a big league star."

FanGraphs.com wrote the following scouting report on Groome after his June, USA Baseball’s Tournament of Stars (TOS) draft showcase in Cary, North Carolina:

"Groome firmly established himself as an early 1-1 candidate at TOS, working 94-96 mph with a feel for pitching that goes well beyond his 16 years of age. At 6-foot-6, the ball comes out effortlessly from a clean arm action and mid-3/4 release with good downhill angle. He paired the heater with a 75-78 mph curveball that spun tightly in its 1-to-7 orbit with two-plane depth …, mixing in a promising changeup with good arm speed."

Last November, Groome announced his verbal commitment to Vanderbilt University for 2016. If he was selected by the Phillies, however, the left-hander's plans to attend college would likely be reconsidered.

Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.