Long lost Padres top pitching prospect finally resurfaces after gambling suspension

Jay Groome is back in professional baseball, which is not exactly the twist anyone had circled. San Diego did not quietly give up on a future gem, so this is not one of those stories that demands dramatic hindsight. It is more of a strange reminder that some prospects do not flame out in one big moment. They just slowly drift off the map until one day their name shows up again and you do a double-take when it flashes across your phone.

There was a point when Groome still felt like the kind of arm people talked themselves into. Boston took him 12th overall in 2016, and Baseball America had him ranked No. 43 in the sport heading into 2017. So when the Padres got him in the Eric Hosmer deal in 2022, there was still just enough prospect shine left for people to wonder if a change of scenery might do something.

Jay Groome resurfaces after suspension in a strange Padres reminder

That never really became a thing for the Padres. Groome’s career was already off track well before the gambling suspension entered the picture. He had a rough 2017, then basically lost all of 2018 and most of 2019 to Tommy John surgery. The wiped-out 2020 minor league season did not exactly help him get any momentum back either. He put together a decent 2022 and posted a 3.44 ERA across the Red Sox and Padres systems, but even that felt less like a real turning point and more like a guy just managing to steady himself for a minute.

Once the Padres got a longer look, the hype faded. He got rocked at Triple-A El Paso in 2023, putting up an 8.55 ERA. That is the part worth remembering. Groome was not exactly banging down the door to Petco Park. He was barely in the conversation before MLB suspended him in June 2024 for one year after violating the league’s gambling policy.

By the time that suspension ended in June 2025, the Padres were done. They non-tendered him and moved on, which felt about as surprising as finding out El Paso is not a great place to fix a struggling pitcher’s stat line.

Now Groome is 27 and trying to pitch his way back into affiliated ball after signing with the Kansas City Monarchs of the independent American Association. The league itself announced the Groome transaction this week, while the Monarchs announced the Nate Webb deal separately. 

Groome was supposed to be at least interesting. Instead, he became one more example of how quickly prospect status expires once the results stop showing up.