Garrett Crochet can’t be sure how long he’ll pitch now whenever he takes the ball now.
Just one more thing to cope with facing major league lineups.
“I don’t care who you are when you’re on a limit whether it’s innings or pitches it messes with your mind, there’s no way it doesn’t,” White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore said Saturday of the Sox All-Star.
Crochet didn’t seem fazed over four rather dominant innings of one-run ball against the Astros Friday in a 5-4 White Sox win. He struck out nine, walked no one and allowed four hits.
He threw 13 of 16 first-pitch strikes, and of his 55 pitches, 43 were strikes in his best start since the All-Star Game.
“It’s hard to go out and know you’re on a short leash and finish what you start, for him to walk all that out and say who he is and putting out good performances shows how tough he is,” Sizemore said.
Over 124 2/3 innings, Crochet, 6-9 with a 3.61 ERA on the major leagues’ worst team, leads the majors with 12.71 strikeouts per nine.
His gifted arm is complemented by a thinking pitcher’s capacity to react, assess and adjust.
When it was brought to his attention that he used a four-pitch mix – at times he has relied on his fastball-cutter combo almost exclusively – Crochet corrected an observer after Friday’s game.
“Sinker, too. Make it five,” Crochet said. “That was a big part of my game plan and then I shared that with [catcher] Korey [Lee] and [pitching coach Ethan] Katz before the game. Kind of made sense, coming off my last start against them where I threw all cutters and fastballs.”
Sox fans should enjoy him while they got him, as Crochet might not be a Sox next season. As they rebuild, it could make more sense to trade him for a significant haul of major league players and prospects because Crochet has two seasons left before free agency.
Unless the Sox offer an extension, which doesn’t appear to be in the works, Crochet will follow another top pitching talent, Dylan Cease, out the door. Cease was traded in March.
In any case, it behooves the Sox and Crochet to make sure he finishes the season healthy, which is why his last seven starts have averaged 3 1/3 innings.
Entering this season, Crochet had pitched 73 major league innings. He pitched 12 2/3 last season coming off Tommy John surgery.
“I feel really good,” Crochet said. “Pitch count was [55 against the Astros]. Felt I could have thrown more, but I completely understand the workload cautions that are going on, the five-day routine, I’ve been preaching it all year. Even before the year started. It’s been awesome.”
Sizemore said he isn’t aware of shutdown talk, and Crochet wants to keep making starts, even though the Sox have nothing to play for aside from avoiding the all-time record for 120 losses in a season.
“Oh yeah,” Crochet said. “Just keep logging starts. At the end of the year, see where the inning count is.”
He’s five starts away from making 30. Crochet knew the starter’s routine was better for his arm than pitching in relief, which he had done previously.
“In ‘21 I was on the IL for my back at one point, in ‘20 the flexor strain, so to have a year I can get through the entire thing healthy would be just huge for my confidence, especially in this new role,” he said. “And just further reaffirm the idea we had in spring training that this was better overall for my health and it’s kind of been trending that way all year. Definitely feels good.”
Sizemore isn’t sure how many innings Crochet will go when he faces the Giants Wednesday in San Francisco, his next start.
“We want to protect him,” Sizemore said. “It’s a unique situation for him, we want to have him out there as much as possible but do what’s right and protect him for the future.”