TODAY: Crochet has decided to get the surgery, the reliever told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin and other reporters.
APRIL 1: Just minutes after announcing the headline-grabbing trade of Craig Kimbrel to the Dodgers in exchange for outfielder AJ Pollock, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn announced that lefty Garrett Crochet is likely to require Tommy John surgery (Twitter link, with video, via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times).
“The preliminary MRI reading is not great,” said Hahn. “There appears to be some damage to the ligament, which will very likely require Tommy John surgery.” Hahn added that Crochet will first seek a second opinion.
Crochet, 22, has all the makings of a star reliever — if not eventually a high-end member of the Chicago rotation. Drafted out of the University of Tennessee with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Crochet made his Major League debut just months later, joining the Sox late in the 2020 season. He spent the entire 2021 campaign in the Chicago bullpen as well.
Thus far, through 60 2/3 innings at the MLB level, Crochet boasts a 2.54 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate, a 10.7% walk rate and a 42.1% ground-ball rate. Crochet has averaged better than 97 mph on his heater that can reach triple digits and notched above-average swinging-strike rates. That said, Crochet did give the Sox an injury scare in 2020, when he saw hit the injured list with a flexor strain following a velocity dip. He returned and managed a healthy 2021 season, with the exception of a back injury that knocked him out for a few weeks, but Crochet’s arm appeared healthy until he exited yesterday’s Cactus League game with a trainer.
If Tommy John surgery is required, the Sox would be without Crochet for the entirety of the 2022 season and quite likely for the early portion of the 2023 campaign. Crochet would continue to accrue service time while rehabbing on the 60-day injured list, although given that he’s currently sitting on just 1.028 years of service, the Sox can still control him all the way through the 2026 campaign.
With Crochet out of the mix and Kimbrel traded, Chicago’s back-of-the-game options consist of closer Liam Hendriks, lefty setup man Aaron Bummer and righty setup man Kendall Graveman. Veteran Joe Kelly, who joined the Sox on a two-year deal this winter, will be an option before too long but is expected to miss the first couple weeks of the season after getting a late start in camp (due to a late 2021 biceps injury that slowed his offseason regimen and put him a bit behind schedule).
There goes the bullpen!
Keep chucking max effort boys every pitch, Imagine being so dumb to think sending guys to the bullpen is easier on their arms instead of starting lol.
The issue is the starters are max-efforting everything more now too. You are right – you can’t go all-out on every pitch and not expect to get hurt.
If you are a good pitcher, you can actually pitch most of the game and then turn it up the 1 or 2 times you really need an out. Throwing 99 in the 1st is pointless.
Guys are getting paid millions of dollars to throw 99 in the first, so I don’t think that’s really pointless…
Guys are paid to get batters out not to hit a velo #. You don’t need to go max effort on every pitch to get batters out. If you can hit 100, you can throw 93-95, change speeds and locate and be fine. If you are hurt, you aren’t earning your pay..
We are seeing obvious correlation that players are throwing harder than ever and getting hurt more than ever. Not ever batter is Mike Trout. the goal is to stay healthy and go deep into games. You don’t need to fire your best fastball all the time.
Y’all ain’t pitchers are you? Hitters can do high speed batting machines to make them ready for 100+ so they then can adjust down to 95. The point of the hundred then for a pitcher is it leave less margin for error for the hitter as the higher speed ball gives a harder target to hit
Great post, agree 100%. Seeing all these guys overthrowing – short spring folks. If you can throw 100 use that like Sherzer, reach back for 100 as your out pitch later innings.
Velocity helps to get guys out. There’s no way around that fact. There’s a reason guys tend to become less effective as they lose velocity. Sure, one can make adjustments to work around that reality, but performance usually takes a hit regardless.
The only question is does increased velocity offset the risk of increased injury chance from a player’s perspective? My gut says yes. Most guys will come back from TJS just fine and remain healthy enough to make good money. How many guys are going to throw softer and, thereby, likely be less effective just because they MIGHT get hurt one day?
This is more of an issue for teams than it is for the players IMO. Because the players will always try to be the best versions of themselves, and that means throwing harder. Good luck getting them to walk that back now. It has to start in Little League or it’s already too late.
It’s the movement on the ball that gets guys out. Straight heat/velocity gets hit. The movement is what misses bat contact.
The comments on this board are hilarious. Before today, Kimbrel was supposedly immovable because no one would want that nightmare. By some miracle he gets moved and all of a sudden the Sox are supposed to be regretting this trade, just minutes after it happened. Wow is all I can say.
And in regards to Crochet, everyone should’ve seen it coming, well, because it seemed like everyone on this site predicted him to get TJS.
Well Crochet was hurt last night.
Kimbrel trade was today.
Crazy that Codi Heuer is out with TJ as well.
Sox pitchers have a really really bad history of needing TJ. It could be because I am closer to this team, but it seems much more frequently than any other team.
Chisox took Crochet, knowing he had issues with his arm in college. It was just a matter of time.
You really have no clue-
Sox still have Lynn, Giolito, Cease, Keuchel, Velasquez and Lopez who can start. Kelly, Bummer, Hendriks, Kopech, and Burr for a decent pen. Foster still hnging around and Rios who I don’t particularly care for. Plus whoever gets cut at the end of spring. Maybe some value to be found there. Not time to panic at all.
Interesting timing.
My thoughts precisely
Knit one pearl two for Crochet to mend your Sox. Any regrets on that Kimbrel trade?
None.
Hahahahahahahaha
Curly just here to spin his yarn, sew predictable…
Keep going @Gwynning, you got me in stitches!
I’m outta here, I’m weaving!
I’m on pins and needles about this predicament.
Y’all knitters are crazy.
You almost sound like a knit-wit
You wool knot like Iron Balls when he’s upset, Curls!
Curls? you make me sound like Shirley Temple. Check out my picture, I’m a bone head
Nyuk nyuk!
Thought the same thing
it really sucks how you can almost assume if a dude’s gonna need TJS nowadays.
Knowing one of your best young BP arms is gonna need TJS, so you trade another one of your great BP arms to compensate? Bold strategy Cotton, let’s see how it pays off.
they still have hendriks, graveman, and aaron bummer at the back end. they’re fine lol.
Forgot joe kelly
joe kelly is also hurt – so i didn’t include him on purpose.. but yeah when healthy he might be the best 6th inning guy in the league
And Joe Kelly. They’re still almost a lock for the AL Central..
Key word, almost.
@love of the game, weren’t the Chisox huge favorites last year too? They folded like a deck of cards.
The Sox lost half their starting fielders to significant injuries last year and still won the Division by September 3rd. Absolute Troll.
And the Sox were never really at full strength last year and still won 93 games.
The 2021 Padres (and many others) can explain how pitching injuries tend to snowball as guys start shouldering more load. I got let’s say an orange alarm going off if I’m a White Sox fan right now. Not red yet.
Lol
It’s still a good bullpen, but those are 2 major subtractions.
Bad break, he was a very promising lefty reliever and maybe a starter down the road.
They can rebuild him.
Stronger than ever.
He lost a ton of velo last season…. I hope he comes back to throwing as hard as he did in his debut…. Guy was hitting 100mph consistently and was just unhittable
It’s okay… you aren’t beating the Astros anyway.
Seemed inevitable for Crochet. Kimbrel was a liability as setup guy to superior Hendriks, so his departure still fine.
Lol
It is a fool’s errand to put a closer, especially a truly great one like Kimbrel, in any other role and expect him to be the same pitcher. The mindset of a closer needs the rush of the moment to perform.
Lol! A pitcher’s job is to get outs. End of story.
Agreed, Kelly. Look what Josh Hader does in Milwaukee. He’ll take on a traditional closer role at times (pitch only the 9th inning). He’ll pitch the 8th inning if the opposing teams’ best hitters are due up, and sometimes he’ll do the same in the 7th inning and even stay in the game to get 9 outs. In some of these games, he’ll cede the actual save to Devin Williams in the 9th, knowing that his hold was just as important/difficult as the save was. He is very versatile and no matter what inning(s) he pitches, he brings the same consistency and approach to the mound.
For some reason, Kimbrel can’t get past the mental block of not being the 9th inning guy. It seems like if he’s not given the chance to earn the save or the win that he takes different approach to the mound that ends up burning him in the end. I’ve always liked Kimbrel and I hope the Dodgers put him in a role that he can succeed in, but on the surface, this looks like a trade won by Chicago already. The get rid of the issue of Kimbrel’s ‘not a save opportunity’ performance while picking up an excellent OF in Pollock. It’s unfortunate that Crochet went down, but this was definitely the right move by Hahn & Company and now the White Sox are only a second baseman away from having one of the most complete teams in all of baseball.
That’s just some unfortunate timing.
This is why you don’t dump bullpen pieces. Now they’re down 2 big arms. Once was a strength is now a potential weakness. You can NEVER have enough pitching
Kimbrel wasn’t a strength as a setup guy though. If injuries do snowball on them, it’s not like there won’t be reliever arms available at the deadline. They’ll be fine, at least in this regard.
Well that’s not great ! Lol love the analysis from the manager
Who?
11th pick in 2020 Draft and has yet to play a minor league game. Probably will now during rehab. Take a look a his numbers. Get to know him. He’s actually somebody worth noting.
No he isn’t. He has likely just become Paco Rodriguez. Relievers are a dime a dozen, unless they are the best of the best.
Now, hiflew is someone worth noting. His baseball analysis is unparalleled.
I will give you your single comparison being it was a good one in Paco. I’m sure there is more you can think of.
Paco was strictly a lefty specialist at times before TJ. Never started a game even in the minors unlike Crochet. A second round pick with only a handful of minor league games before a Sept call up. Still a full season in the minors. Paco wasn’t Tommy John either and it was the injury that stalled his career. Time will tell for Crochet. Paco also came out of Florida. The epicenter of staying ahead on steroids for dudes like Manny and Arod during the time he was in high school. Never can trust if the talent is pure from the Florida man baseball team.
They had to know this was coming before, and they still trade Kimbrel? Even the best of bullpens can fall apart this easily due to injuries, they better hope that dont happen to them.
Kimbrel was a rollercoaster when they got him last year. Turning him in to a serviceable OF starter was still a solid move. Yeah, losing Crochet sucks, but if they do wind up needing an arm or two, it’s not like they can’t just pick up whoever Arizona or Colorado are dumping in a few months. Melancon, Colome… There will be options available.
Stop right now with your Colome talk…
Yes, Crochet faced one batter and left game last night!!
Sox know what they are doing.
Supposedly the White Sox are going hard after Sean Manaea right now. If they land him, that could allow them to have Kopech open the season in the bullpen, which would make up for the loss of Crochet a bit. Tony Watson is also still a free agent.
I like Watson. I was hoping for him last year.
Since he suffered the injury and exited the Oct 2020 playoff game his velocity was down significantly. Probably needed surgery for some time and was just riding it out until catastrophic failure demanded action. Hope for a speedy recovery.
Not significantly, but he wasn’t toping 100 every pitch like he was during his 2020 season.
Can’t blame for injury but a lot of these white Sox high draft picks in recent years haven’t been much.
Outside of TA, the last 1st rd pick that was a non pitcher to be relevant for the Sox was Frank Thomas.
Is it just pure random luck that saves a pitcher from TJS ??? Maybe every pitcher should just get it done at age 18 or so and then be done with it. SMH. Wisdom Teeth come out, just do Tommy John at the same time.
I think there has to be a correlation between TJS and velocity and max-effort. There’s clearly something wrong when so many pitchers get hurt so often plus no guarantee you come back from TJS the same either.
I think a lot is mechanics and going max effort. If you have a very efficient, smooth, repeatable delivery and aren’t killing yourself every pitch, you should be fine. To me, this is an offshoot of a focus on velocity and spin rate. Guys go all-out and tweak their mechanics to maximize spin and now they need surgery. There’s a limit on what the body’s meant to be able to do.
There is a difference between a pitcher and a thrower. I was surprised Chris Sale lasted as long as he did.
I don’t think it’s a matter of max effort. Crochet threw 100 as a rookie but eventually settled in around 97-98 comfortably. I think it has a lot more to do with pitchers trying to increase their spin rate. The torque required puts a lot strain on the elbow…hence TJS.
Another mood warning for white Sox Dave
Tony Watson on Line 1?
White Sox frantically on the phone with the Dodgers….about that Kimbrell trade?….Dodgers reply…no taksies backsies!
Idiot
Ouch. Sorry to hear Garrett has to go through this. Stay Strong, come back gunning!
Cleveland…: “Gunning” is what caused the problem in the 1st place.
The White Sox have two Triple-A relievers who can fill in for now that are already on the 40-man roster: Anderson Severino and Bennett Sousa. While neither can fully replace Crochet, either should be adequate enough as the #2 bullpen lefty (behind Aaron Bummer) — at least until the trade deadline.
Do they have Sousa on the phone?
All the idiots saying why trade Kimbrel then dont realize unless Kimbrel was the closer he wasnt gonna pitch well with the Sox. He wants saves
Crap. Oh well, it’s baseball. I don’t see Rodon staying healthy all year either. TJ surgery seems to be a normal thing nowadays, unfortunately.
Never a dull moment on the Southside
Eliminate today and virtually the entire offseason has been a dull moment on the Southside.
Ryan Dull is still available!
This sucks, but as others have said, Watson is available and they have a couple options in the minors. They still have enough high-leverage options in Graveman, Bummer, Hendriks, and Kelly. If they get Manaea, Kopech can start in the pen, but even without that, they have a strong top four.
TJS is a right of passage and almost like you have to get it out of the way. If you recall he has some elbow issues last year and they were probably hoping it was fatigue. The kid has a lot of upside and talent.
He lost a lot of velocity between his rookie debut and sophomore season…. Get him fully healthy and back to throwing 100mph
Could this force Kopech back to the pen? R Lopez to start?
They will both start.
6 man rotation.
Keuchel likely first to lose rotation spot although he had a good outing last time.
I am assuming this comment was before the Oakland game…
Max velo + max spin = max stress on your arm. Unfortunately, it’s also the quickest way to advance through thru college and minor league ball and make the majors. Add to that the success rate of TJS and there little incentive to do otherwise.
I mean lets be real… Who really did not see this coming at some point? I (and Im sure others) expected this last season so a bit late compared to my guess but not surprising.
Croch-Rocket, nooooo!! : (