— by Taylor Kennedy
Every young baseball player dreams of making it to the Major Leagues, but the odds are far-fetched.
Former Wheeling Park High School and West Virginia University ace Michael Grove is one of a chosen few.
Grove has been able to live out his aspirations, and the second-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 MLB Draft has reached the pinnacle for baseball players.
After beginning his professional career for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of Class A in 2019, Grove got promoted to the Tulsa Drillers of Class AA and eventually the Oklahoma City Dodgers of Class AAA.
Earlier this season, while back with Tulsa, Grove got the call every minor league player desires when the Los Angeles Dodgers elected to bring him to the big leagues.
“It has been a roller coaster for me so far,” Grove said Tuesday as a guest on MetroNews Statewide Sportsline. “At the beginning of the year, I did not anticipate making my debut in May. I got called up from Double-A, which is crazy and a bit of a whirlwind for me. I have spent the last month and-a-half going up and down, filling in spots when needed.”
There was no shortage of suspense in the announcement for Grove.
How did @mgrove_2 get notified that he was going from AA to the Major Leagues? What was his immediate reaction to the news? Michael discusses that moment with @TonyCaridi, @BradHowe07, and @HunterWvu88bgn. pic.twitter.com/g2oe5iFsCt
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) July 19, 2022
“It was incredible because I had no idea at all,” Grove stated. “Our Double-A manager called everybody into the locker room because it is not very common for a guy to go from Double-A to the show. He hadn’t told me yet, but he called everybody in the locker room. He was like, ‘Michael Grove, you are going to start Saturday night in the show,’ which ended up being Sunday. My heart sank. I was just white and everybody was going crazy and all that.
“I did not expect it at all. I will never forget that moment for sure.”
On May 15, Grove made his first major league start against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Grove logged 3 2/3 innings in that contest, allowing four unearned runs to go with three strikeouts and three walks during a no-decision of what ultimately was a 5-4 Dodgers’ win.
Grove had been pitching well in Tulsa this season, compiling a 2.76 ERA with 22 strikeouts and five base-on-balls over 16 1/3 innings this season.
“I was playing consistently for the first month of the year,” Grove noted on what caught the Dodgers’ attention. “I was throwing a lot of strikes. I do not believe I was necessarily blowing anybody away with my numbers. I think they trusted me to be able to come up and make a start, then get them through three or four innings.
“They needed me to come up and do my job and get them to the bullpen so that they could manage the rest of the game. They trusted me to do that.”
Entering any professional locker room can be a difficult adjustment for a new guy, but that was not the case for Grove. He had already connected with several Dodgers in the preseason.
“It helped that I was in the big league spring training,” Grove said. “I met many of these guys before, but it is different going up to pitch in the show. I am thankful that we have a good environment and culture. The older guys like Mookie [Betts] and [Clayton Kershaw] know what it is like for guys like me. They do a great job of making me feel included and comfortable.”
An early adjustment Grove was pitching on a far bigger stage with more people watching. He went from throwing in front of a few thousand fans to pitching at Dodger Stadium, one of baseball’s biggest and most iconic venues with a capacity of 56,000.
“Dodger Stadium is a cool place for anybody, regardless of how long you have been in the big leagues or if you have not been there at all,” Grove said. “Walking out onto the field, you could feel the buzz. There are a lot of people, and the music is loud. It felt like the big leagues to me. I tried not to look up at the four decks they have.”
Grove was sent back to Oklahoma City following his first MLB start, though he was recalled by the Dodgers and made a second appearance June 1 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing three runs in one inning.
He has since been sent back to Oklahoma City and made five starts from June 7-July 14.
During his appearances in the big leagues, Grove noticed tendencies and habits of MLB hitters that differed from what he had seen in the minors.
“Guys don’t chase certain things that guys in Double-A would,” Grove said. “You would throw a great pitch, but you would then stand there and scratch your head because they did not swing at it. It makes me respect how consistent the guys up there are with their pitches.”