DUNEDIN, Fla. -- There’s something different about Jordan Groshans this spring.

From a distance, the big, broad-shouldered Texan with the cool swagger of a big leaguer is still easy to pick out of a crowd of 50 prospects all wearing the same T-shirt. Up close, though, there’s a refreshed mindset and a new level of introspection.

As a first-round Draft pick in 2018, Groshans, now 22 and the Blue Jays’ No. 3 prospect, came in hot as an 18-year-old. Eager to prove that he was deserving of the hype and belonged while trying to meet his own lofty targets, there were parts of Groshans’ mental game that lagged behind his physical gifts. That’s why, this offseason, he made it his primary focus, working with mental coaches to clear his mind and better relate to the ups and downs that ballplayers -- even the very best -- all experience.

“I had set such high goals and expectations for myself. When I didn’t reach those, I felt like I was failing, even though my failure on my expectations was still way above average,” Groshans, baseball’s No. 55 prospect per MLB Pipeline, said Thursday. “I think that’s just how I was raised, being really hard on myself, and going into this year, that’s something I’m not doing. I’m going to go have fun and play the game.”

There’s an immediate smile and a sigh of relief from Groshans when he considers how this has impacted his broader baseball experience. It’s “so much better” now, he said, because he’s not just allowing himself to have some fun playing the game, but seeing the actual benefits of that mindset. Baseball, he knows, is about slowing the game down as you climb the ladder, and it’s easier to do that when your mind isn’t revving.

From the Blue Jays’ player development staff down through their coaches, the first comment on Groshans this spring hasn’t been about his bat, it’s been that Groshans is matured and “a better teammate.” That can be big, broad and vague, but Groshans was more specific, explaining that having better relationships with his teammates not only makes the day to day grind more enjoyable, but it allows him and his fellow prospects to push one another in healthy ways, something that’s easier done when their relationships go beyond wearing the same uniform.

“I learned to separate the baseball world from the normal world,” Groshans said. “We’re baseball players, but we’re humans, too. I think a lot of people get that mixed up. Being able to separate what I do here from what I do outside of here is special.”

This all helps to strengthen a foundation for Groshans’ physical gifts to stand upon. Late in 2021 with Double-A New Hampshire, Groshans contracted COVID-19, dealing with serious symptoms for nearly two weeks. His weight had dropped to 193 pounds, but now he’s back up to 211 pounds in camp, a change to “good weight” after he’d put on the “wrong weight” in the past.

The result? Exit velocity. Lots of it.

Groshans is hitting the ball harder and more consistently. His primary focus is the magic number of 95 mph, creating “hard contact” as often as possible. He’s pairing this with a focus on his attack angle, which is the angle at which his bat enters the zone. That, Groshans believes, will be what turns his loud contact into home run totals, which the Blue Jays are also expecting after he homered just seven times in 75 games last season.

This is another change for Groshans, who was wary of overanalyzing things when he came into the system as a teenager.

“When I first got here, I was against all of that stuff on the analytics side,” Groshans said.

“I didn’t want to create my swing to reach a certain launch angle and stuff like that. Now, I’ve learned to trust it and learned to put in my work, really study it and learn my swing more. It’s been very beneficial.”

Groshans’ development case is also difficult to view through the traditional lens. He played just 71 pro games in 2018 and ’19 before missing two full seasons, then dove back in against Double-A pitchers, most of whom were older. He’ll still self-critique, but there’s a focus on the positives.

“It was one of the better defensive years I’ve had. On the hitting side, I thought it was a tremendous year,” Groshans said. “I know people want more home runs, more stuff like that, but for me it was big with Double-A pitching. It’s some of the best pitching I’ve faced, so I wanted to build a foundation as a hitter, find out who I am and what I can do at the plate, then work on swing decisions.”

The next test is Triple-A Buffalo, which is a fine place to launch a power surge. Groshans has the bat, but this new approach could really let that shine.