White Sox’ Garrett Crochet preparing to be a starter

Garrett Crochet has always wanted to be a starting pitcher in the major leagues. After almost four years and a body of relief work totaling just 73 innings because of elbow and shoulder injuries, the 24-year-old left-hander is nearing his chance.

“He’s preparing this season to be a starter,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz revealed this week. “It’s something he has done in the past [in college]. He has the weapons to do so. He has had some health hiccups along the way. [But] physically, he’s in a very good spot.”

Relievers don’t fall out of bed equipped to pitch five or more innings, so Crochet’s path to starting will take more than an offseason program and spring training after a 2023 season in which shoulder issues limited him to 12  2/3 innings. That path is “TBD,” pitching coach Ethan Katz told the Sun-Times.

“The plan is to get him multiple innings, but it won’t be a normal buildup for a poten-tial starter because he can’t [progressively] go one, two, three, four, five innings leaving camp and then off he goes [to the season] ready to go,” Katz said. “How that gets worked out depends on a lot of things — one, his performance, and two, how he’s bouncing back. There’s a lot of stuff that needs to be talked about, worked out.”

Crochet finished the season healthy, striking out two Padres in a perfect inning in his last outing Oct. 1. He expressed his desire to become a starter during exit talks and eagerly looked forward to a healthy offseason.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve had one of those,” he said in September.

Katz, who said Crochet’s offseason bullpen sessions “have looked very good,” suggested Crochet’s path to starting could resemble that of Michael Kopech, who made 40 relief appearances and four starts in 2021 after sitting out the 2020 season.

In a Sox rebuilding year after 101 losses with an all-right-handed rotation — and with the expected 2024 rotation full of unproven righties — it makes sense to open a starting window for Crochet, who made quite the first impression three months after he was drafted 11th overall in 2020. He added a must-watch dimension to the bullpen during that shortened season, routinely (and seemingly effortlessly) clocking triple-digit numbers on the velocity gun.

Mixing 100 and 101 mph fastballs with a complementary 87 mph slider in his debut Sept. 18, 2020, at Cincinnati, he struck out Brian Goodwin and Jose Barrero, the first two batters, in a perfect inning. At 6-6, and powered by a long stride toward the plate during a 13-pitch effort with nine strikes, he immediately drew comparisons to Chris Sale and Randy Johnson from broadcasters Jason Benetti and Darrin Jackson.

Four more scoreless appearances followed, with triple-digit readings and no runs allowed against the Reds, Guardians and Cubs. In his third outing Sept. 22, Crochet touched 100 mph or more 11 times during a 19-pitch inning in a tied game at Cleveland.

He appeared in the Sox’ decisive Game 3 loss at Oakland in the wild-card round of the playoffs, entering with two outs in the first inning of a bullpen game — the second of nine pitchers that manager Rick Renteria used. But after he struck out the Athletics’ Matt Olson on a 98.9 mph fastball to strand two runners, then struck out Khris Davis leading off the second, he abruptly departed with tightness in his left forearm — the end of his season as the Sox went on to lose 6-4.

The bloom was off the rose, the routine triple digits would be a thing of the past, and concern about the arm lingered until the following season, when Crochet was no longer invincible. But with a fastball averaging 97 mph, he posted a 2.82 ERA in 2021 while averaging 12 strikeouts per nine innings over 56 appearances covering 54 „ innings in relief — a good season.

However, during spring training the following year, he blew out his elbow, necessitating Tommy John surgery, and after missing all of 2022, he logged just 12  2/3 innings last year while dealing with soreness in his shoulder. He struck out 12 but walked 13 and gave up 12 hits while managing to keep his ERA at 3.55 working with a 96-97 mph fastball.

So here we are. Crochet has gone through the hurdles of multiple injury and rehab stints and will be one of the more fascinating players to watch when pitchers and catchers report to spring training Feb. 14. But he won’t be in the fast lane on his road to starting.

“But this is the year he should have a clean bill of health,” Katz said. “And everything should be behind him, too.”

Katz said it’s just “not fair to Garrett or anyone” to peg him as a starter because no one has seen the real Crochet the last two seasons. But he’ll be given the opportunity he wants.

“We know how good he can be,” Katz said. “When he’s at his best and dialed in, it’s exciting to see how good he can be.”