Garrett Crochet: Up-And-Coming Dynasty Players

What an exciting week we just had. About three hundred more pitchers landed on the injured list as it appears everyone’s elbow and forearm in baseball is now made of paper.

In other news, Jackson Holliday was recalled from the minors and made his debut with the Baltimore Orioles. If you play in dynasty baseball leagues, then you already know all about Holliday and there is no need for me to tell you he is an up-and-coming dynasty player. If you don’t know about Holliday, then all you need to know is that he is an up-and-coming dynasty stud who you should have on your roster.

With Holliday now in The Show like he should have been since Opening Day, I want to talk about a certain Chicago White Sox pitcher who is off to a great start this season. That pitcher is Garrett Crochet. Of course, now that I am featuring him, he will land on the IL like Chase Silseth has after being featured a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, Crochet is a 24-year-old left-hander who was originally drafted in the 34th round of the 2017 draft by Milwaukee. Crochet didn’t sign and instead went to Tennessee and on June 10, 2020, he was drafted in the first round by the White Sox. He signed with the Sox on June 22 and on Sept. 18 he made his MLB debut with Chicago without throwing a single pitch in the minors.

Here is a fun fact for you. In going straight from college to the majors:

• Crochet was the first player to do that since Mike Leake in 2010.
• Crochet is the first pitcher since Mike Morgan and Tim Conroy in 1978 to go straight to the majors the same year he was drafted.

So why do I think he is an up-and-coming dynasty player? Let’s find out.

Career MLB Stats

This is the first season in which the White Sox are using Crochet as a starter, and it’s not like he has had a lot of experience as a starter in the past. At Tennessee, he appeared in 36 games and started only 13 of them. After appearing out of the bullpen six times in 2020, he appeared in 54 games with the White Sox in 2021 and had a fine season. Then came 2022.

During spring training Crochet felt a pop in his elbow and ended up having Tommy John surgery, forcing him to miss the 2022 campaign and limiting him to 13 appearances in 2023 that produced some mixed results.

Despite his past record of success out of the bullpen, Crochet wanted to be a starter and the White Sox gave him a chance to earn a spot in the rotation this spring. Why? Because he throws two pitches really, really well and both Crochet and the Sox felt he would experience a lot of success as a starter.

• The Fastball

During his sophomore season, Crochet was throwing between 91 to 95 mph and topped out at 97. By the start of his junior year, he was regularly sitting in the mid-90s and blowing past 100 mph on a regular basis. The extra hop on his fastball helped him average 11.2 K/9 and post a 3.68 K/BB rate. During his six-game stint with Chicago in 2020, he averaged 100 mph in six scoreless innings of relief.

Now fully recovered from his Tommy John procedure, Crochet is averaging 96.9 mph with his fastball this season and has topped out at 99 mph. And despite now being in the starting rotation, the fastball is a pitch he still relies on, throwing it nearly 51 percent of the time with great results. Through his first three starts, opposing batters are hitting only 3-for-32 against the pitch for a .094 batting average and slugging percentage.

Crochet also has developed a cutter this year to use as a fourth pitch that averages 91.37 mph and produces a 34.8% whiff rate and a .200 batting average against so far and .267 slugging percentage.

If there is one concern about his four-seam fastball is that it a bit flat. Last year it averaged about six inches of horizontal movement and 13 inches of drop. League average is eight inches of movement and 16 inches of drop.

• The Slider

This is a pitch that has the most speed variation for Crochet and is thrown nearly 30% of the time. While his fastball sits in the mid-90s, the slider comes in at an average speed of 84.7 mph. Opposing hitters are not seeing a lot of success against this pitch either, hitting .188 against it. However, the two home runs Crochet has allowed both came against his slider.

Using data from the 2023 season, the slider can probably be classified as a sweeper as it averages 13 inches of horizontal movement with 38 inches of drop. The average slider moves six inches with 37 inches of drop. No matter what you want to call it, it is a very good pitch that will get a lot of strikeouts and weak contact.

What About the Walks?

If there is one knock against Crochet it is the fact that he has not always been able to command his pitches. In college, he averaged 3.3 BB/9. During the 2021 season that walk rate ballooned to 4.5 BB/9 and last year, he had no idea where the pitch was going as he was coming back from the injury. In 12.2 innings of work, he issued 13 walks to go along with 12 hits. The result was an ugly 9.2 BB/9 rate and a 1.97 WHIP.

But the good news last year was the fact that he averaged 96 mph on his fastball and still throwing an above-average slider that helped produce 12 strikeouts in those 12.2 innings of work.

Is the Fast Start For Real?

To answer the question above – yes, the fast start is for real.

This season Crochet has been a master at commanding his pitches. In his first 18 innings of work, he has allowed only one walk while racking up 21 strikeouts to produce 21.0 K/BB rate. We all know that is not sustainable, but Crochet is showing that his spring was no fluke. During Cactus League play, he threw 12.2 innings and allowed only one walk to go along with 14 strikeouts.

And as you can see above, the ability to throw strikes is leading to a lot of pretty red numbers and bars.

Crochet is not going to maintain a 0.67 WHIP all season or likely not even a 2.00 ERA. But he is a great strikeout pitcher who will help you greatly in that category. He will likely start to walk a few more hitters, but if he lives in the 2.5 to 3.0 BB/9 range, he shouldn’t kill you in WHIP either as he won’t give up a lot of hits. He is quickly being snatched up in Yahoo and ESPN leagues, but if he is available, I’d snag him as he has the upside to be a solid No. 2 pitcher and possible ace in future seasons.