Our 9th best starter in the 2019 Valley League season, Lliam Grubbs, was one of the fifteen JMU Dukes who appeared in the league last summer. While he was only in Staunton for five starts, those starts were very, very good.

A 6-foot righthander from Louisa, Virginia, Grubbs put up the following stat line:

ERA W L G GS IP H R ER BB K AVG WIP BB/9 K/9
2019 3.91 0 1 5 5 20.7 17 12 9 7 31 0.215 1.159 3.0 13.5

Among pitchers considered for this list, Grubbs finished seventh in the league in batting average against, sixth in WHIP, ninth in BB/9, and third in K/9. His best start was on June 6, at Front Royal, when he allowed three hits, two runs (but none earned), two walks, and struck out seven. He was named a South All-Star, but he left before the game was partially played.

A current sophomore at JMU, Grubbs put up the following stats as a freshman:

JMU ERA W L G GS IP H R ER BB K WHIP BB/9 K/9
2019 6.61 0 0 15 0 16.0 15 12 12 10 18 1.563 5.6 10.1

I look forward to covering Grubbs as part of the “hometown” college team this spring!