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Anastasia: Draft prospect Groome keeps it smooth in his return to mound

BARNEGAT, N.J. - The most remarkable thing about Jason Groome isn't the explosion of his fastball.

Although there's that.

It's not the command of his curveball.

Although there's that, too.

It's the economy of his motion.

Groome, the Barnegat High School senior lefthander projected as the possible No. 1 pick in the major-league draft by the Phillies, pitches the way Olympic divers enter the water - with barely a ripple.

"As a coach, you always worry about a kid with violent mechanics," Pinelands coach Rob Sanzari said after his team dropped a 2-0 decision to Groome's Barnegat squad in a first-round game of the Ocean County tournament on Saturday morning.