Grover Selected By Baltimore Orioles

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AIKEN, SC (12/28/2018) Former University of South Carolina Aiken baseball standout Taylor Grover was recently selected with the first pick in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft by the Baltimore Orioles.

Grover pitched for the Chicago Dogs of the independent American Association before being traded to the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks at the end of the year.

While at USC Aiken, Grover routinely hit 94-95 mph on the mound. In 2017, he hit 100 mph for the first time and is now throwing as hard as 102 at times.

"Taylor Grover has improved his performance," said Orioles director of minor league operations Kent Qualls. "He pitched independent ball last year, but struck out 12 per nine. He's got an above-average fastball, 95-98 (mph) and hit 100 numerous times last year. What his manager described to me as a wipeout slider, and our analytics, TrackMan data, kind of backed that up. He's a guy that had increased performance last year, and our pitching people are excited to bring him to the organization and see where we can take him."

Grover was a consensus All-American as a junior. In 2013, he gave up only three earned runs and held opponents to a .154 batting average. Grover went 5-0 his junior year and registered a PBC-best 11 saves. He tossed 29.1 innings and held a 0.92 ERA.