Maybe Garrett Crochet should cherish his time in the Chicago White Sox starting rotation.
He might not be long for the role.
Asked before Tuesday’s 6-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins whether Crochet could be heading back to the bullpen at some point, manager Pedro Grifol said “there’s a possibility” he could.
“Obviously the workload is a real thing,” he said. “We can’t hide from that. The innings were really low last year. The pitches thrown were really low. Every time he steps on the mound is uncharted waters.”
True enough, which would be too bad for Crochet, who worked hard to be considered for the rotation opening and was excited to show what he could do. But now it seems like it’s not a matter of whether he’ll go to the bullpen this season, but when.
The anemic Sox offense has been the primary reason for the horrific 6-23 start, making the rotation their only hope of avoiding a historically bad season. Michael Soroka threw four no-hit innings Tuesday against the Twins but failed to make it out of the fifth, the fourth time in his last five starts he hasn’t gone five innings.
When Crochet is on, he’s among the more dominant starters around. He’s a max effort pitcher and ranked third in majors Tuesday with a 32.9% strikeout rate.
It would be nice to see what he could do over an entire season, but this was something that could have been telegraphed as far back as spring training when the Sox began stretching Crochet out to be a starter after he missed 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and spent most of last spring rehabbing or on the IL.
He made 13 appearances in 2023 from May 18 to June 15, throwing 10 innings, before heading to the IL with left shoulder inflammation. Crochet made three more appearances at the end of the season, giving him 12 2/3 total innings with the Sox, along with 12 1/3 innings in the minors.
I asked Crochet about it on the second day of spring training. Innings limits are so rigid these days, and he was coming off a season of being injured and rehabbing. Did he think he could convince them to let him keep pitching in September?
“That’ll be something that’s out of my control,” he said. “All I can do is just do whatever is in my power, in my five-day routine, and be as open and honest with the training staff and coaching staff as I can.”
Crochet eventually was named opening day starter and threw six innings in that first MLB start. He was even better in his second start, lasting seven innings. But since then he’s failed to go more than five innings, and his ERA zoomed to 6.37 after a four-inning stint last week against Minnesota.
Then came Monday’s rematch against the Twins, when he was removed after five innings and 77 pitches, despite having retired the final 11 batters he faced. Crochet was hoping to save the bullpen and seemed upset in the dugout because he was feeling strong. He was open and honest, and was also overruled.
“We have to really monitor that and we have to communicate with him and we’ve got to be smart,” Grifol said Tuesday. “He’s a competitor, he (didn’t) want to come out of that game. At the end of the day, he knows that’s the right thing for him because the idea here is to not only help us win baseball games, but to keep him healthy and make sure he’s part of the future here for years to come.”
Grifol said he loves having “tough conversations” with starters.
“I don’t want guys that want to come out of ball games,” he said. “There’s a reason for it. It was one of those (times), whether he agrees with it or not, he was coming out of that game. But I actually really enjoy when guys don’t want to come out of games, because in my mind and the way I was brought up in the game, the pitcher walks…
This article was originally published by a www.chicagotribune.com . Read the Original article here. .