Chicago White Sox: 1 pitcher was even better than we thought

The Chicago White Sox has a lot of very good young pitchers. One of them is Garrett Crochet who they selected in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft. It was a strange time for Crochet because he was drafted in the COVID-19 year so he didn’t have a typical college or Minor League experience.

Instead, he was called up to the White Sox during the 60-game short season which just also happened to be his draft year. It is very rare for that to happen but Crochet simply took advantage of the opportunity that was handed to him in part by the pandemic. He pitched so well that he was pretty much penciled in for the 2021 season.

Of course, he made the team out of spring training and he is never looking back. He is going to be a very good Major League Baseball player for a long time. 2021 was a huge step for him as the White Sox used him out of their bullpen for the entire year.

Crochet is a starter naturally but the White Sox ran their rotation of Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease, and Carlos Rodon. Michael Kopech, Jimmy Lambert, and Reynaldo Lopez all made starts as well so you know that the White Sox are managing Crochet’s Major League workload.

Michael Kopech is a guy who is in a similar situation but for different reasons. He is a starter that worked out of the bullpen as he comes back from injury and missed time. He is ahead of Crochet on the depth chart and for good reason but these two are very similar in a lot of ways.

Garrett Crochet is one of the best pitchers on the Chicago White Sox right now.

In 2021, Crochet had a 2.82 ERA which is marvelous for a 22-year-old rookie that played no Minor League Baseball. His stuff is so good that he was just able to join the big leagues and dominate. He also had 65 strikeouts in 54.1 innings. His command was spotty at times with 27 walks but it is one of the only things he still has left to work on.

It is going to be interesting to see how the White Sox handle him going forward. They might continue to use him out of the bullpen for a while but he would be great in any role they come up with for him.

His development should be one of the team’s biggest priorities. Crochet himself should be proud of his MLB career so far knowing it is just getting started. 2022 is going to be a big year for him as this year was even better than we thought it would be.