White Sox: Potential roles for Garrett Crochet in 2021

White Sox could ease Crochet in as a long man

In this role, Garret Crochet can be expected to come into games to relieve a starting pitcher who may be struggling early. Crochet can develop and even shine in this role, acting as a Band-Aid to stop any potential bleeding while also gaining valuable major league playing time. If anyone is making bets, this role would most likely win.

At the University of Tennessee, Crochet did both start and pitch in relief. In 2019, despite a strong season, the Volunteers were stopped in the regional finals. His 81 punchouts in 65 innings helped out their 40-21 record.

In 18 appearances in 2019, he pitched 65 innings, 34.2 in relief. In total, he gave up 10 earned runs in those innings, but really he just had one bad outing, giving up four runs against Mississippi State, but hey sometimes you don’t have it. In those relief innings, Crochet struck out 50 while allowing only eight walks, three coming in that Mississippi State game.

When Chris Sale started his White Sox career, he was primarily used in the back end of the bullpen, coming into games late, often shutting the door and earning a save here or there. Considering the stacked back end of the ‘pen of 2021, Crochet will not be used the same way.

The plan with Sale was to build him into a starter the whole time, as it is with Crochet. The team actually expects him to make the five-man rotation by 2022. But there is a different, out of the box idea that gets him in there now.