‘Shocked’ Crochet tabbed as White Sox’s Opening Day starter
With the season opening on March 28, there are still a lot of questions in the White Sox's starting rotation.
A big one was answered on Monday. Converted relief pitcher Garrett Crochet is getting the ball on Opening Day when the Sox play the Detroit Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Dylan Cease was lined up to start his second straight season opener, but he was traded to the Padres last Wednesday for three prospects and veteran reliever Steven Wilson.
Michael Kopech, who was in the White Sox' rotation last season, has been moved to the bullpen.
Crochet is a surprise choice, considering he missed the entire 2022 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and pitched only 12.2 innings out of the White Sox's bullpen last year while dealing with a shoulder injury.
He obviously welcomed Monday's news.
“Very shocked to say the least,” Crochet told reporters. “I heard they had some exciting news for me and I thought it was just that I’d made the rotation. It’s humbling and very gratifying. I worked my tail off this spring, had a lot of solid veterans to lean on and was able to put together a good couple of outings.
“I feel like I earned it. I feel like I’ve kind of been waiting for this moment but didn’t really know if it would come, so to be awarded this is a huge honor.”
According to mlb.com's Sarah Langs, Crochet is going to be the just the ninth pitcher in the last 110 years to make his first career start on Opening Day. The Rangers' Tanner Scheppers was the last to do it, in 2014.
Crochet was the Sox's first-round draft pick (No. 11 overall) in 2020 out of Tennessee. In two full seasons with the Volunteers, he started 12 games.
Crochet has made 72 appearances out of the White Sox's bullpen and went 3-7 with a 2.71 ERA. The 6-foot-6 left-hander had 85 strikeouts and 40 walks over 73 innings.
Given his recent health issues, the Sox weren't sure what they were going to get out of the 24-year-old Crochet in spring training.
He's been impressive, allowing 7 hits over 9 scoreless innings to go with 12 strikeouts and no walks.
“You come in with that curiosity that you have a big-time arm coming into the starting fold,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “You’re curious to see how it’s going to pan out. He went out there and performed, pounded the strike zone. His stuff was electric.”
Since he pitched only 25 combined innings with the White Sox, Class AAA Charlotte and AA Birmingham last year, Crochet's workload is going to be closely monitored.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Grifol said. “Obviously the workload is important for us, but there are so many layers to this. Everybody’s going to be involved in this, sports performance, training staff, strength and conditioning. The front office, myself, the pitching coaches.
“So many layers to this that we’ll monitor this thing as it goes. There are days off, we can go on a sixth day, there’s stuff we can do to monitor the workload.”
There has been no official announcement yet, but Erick Fedde and Michael Soroka should follow Crochet in the Sox's rotation.
Fedde struggled during a six-year run with the Nationals, going 21-33 with a 5.41 ERA. Pitching for the NC Dinos in Korea last season, the 31-year-old righty went 20-6 with a 2.00 ERA and cashed in with the White Sox on a two-year, $15 million contract.
Soroka was a rising star with the Braves in 2019, going 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA. He missed the 2020-21 seasons with torn Achilles injuries before getting back on the mound with Atlanta last year (2-2, 6.40 ERA).
Another newcomer, Chris Flexen, could be the No. 4 starter. The 29-year-old righty split last season between the Mariners and Rockies and was 2-8 with a 6.86 ERA.
Nick Nastrini is making a strong bid to claim a spot in the Sox's starting five.
Acquired from the Dodgers last July in the trade that sent Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to Los Angeles, Nastrini has allowed 1 run and struck out 11 over 11 innings in the Cactus League.