Garrett Crochet didn’t choose to come to Boston, but he did choose to stay here. After making just one start as a member of the Red Sox (on the road in Texas), Crochet signed a six-year contract extension to remain with the organization through at least 2030. He was a standout on the field in his first season with the team, and while he hasn’t been able to replicate that this season, he’s working to endear himself to the community by partnering with Sam Adams for the release of Crochet’s Pale Ale, which is on tap at bars, taprooms and restaurants in the New England area and available as part of the “Our City. Our Beer” variety pack.
“A big thing for me was ingraining myself in the Boston culture, and Sam Adams is really that to a T,” Crochet said.
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He isn’t wrong. When the Scots descended upon Boston for the World Cup, they drank the Sam Adams Downtown Taproom out of Boston Lager. He’s also made a habit of dominating the Yankees. In four regular season starts, he’s posted a 3.29 ERA and a 36.8% strikeout rate, as well as 7.2 innings of one-run baseball in the postseason. I conducted the interview from a hotel room in Milwaukee while on a bachelor party, and joked that the bachelor was upset with Crochet for hurting his family team. Crochet apologized but quickly rescinded it upon learning that the bachelor is a Yankees fan.
Crochet hasn’t pitched since April, but the rotation has picked up the slack in his absence. That rotation is comprised largely of huge, left-handed pitchers. Each arm is different, but Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, Ranger Suarez, and Jake Bennett all come armed with a four-seam fastball, cutter/slider, and some kind of breaking ball. Crochet’s best utilized standing on the mound, but because of the similarities with his teammates, he’s able to contribute from the bench.
“There’s much more benefit to the eye test that goes on during a series,” Crochet said. “We’re playing three or four game series and it’s all lefties that we’re rolling out there, so it’s fun to watch … When a guy is in the middle of his start I’m not passing any information, you know, he went into today prepared ready to make the start and has all the information that he feels he needs to have success … if I think someone is really looking not good on the changeup, I think me and Tolle have a little bit more room to exploit [the changeup] given that other teams aren’t planning for it at all against us.”
The lefty noted that while you can help from the dugout, it’s different than being on the mound. From the dugout, it can look like a hitter was late on a fastball, when in reality it’s because the pitch ran too far inside. For that reason, within a game, Crochet relies on the catcher’s to help make those adjustments.
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“[Andrew Bailey] and Devin Rose, they’re pretty good. I think they just have a natural feel for the game, but whether it’s [Carlos Narvaez], Connor [Wong] or even Mickey Gasper, I think that’s who I’m having a majority of the conversations with,” Crochet said.
Initially, I had hoped to breakdown an at-bat with Crochet and have him walk me through his thought process before each pitch. That wasn’t possible over Zoom, but we were able to hit on a variety of details around how a major league start comes together. For Crochet, the changeup came up a few times during our conversation. It’s the one pitch that’s “missing” from Crochet’s arsenal. He’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball without it, but a plus changeup would make him nearly unhittable, giving him the ability to go away from righties rather than continuously jamming them inside. He toyed with a new splitter this offseason, but ultimately scrapped it pretty early on. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like he’s too close to figuring that one out.
“If I knew [why I can’t throw a good changeup], I’d have a good one at this point,” Crochet joked.
With the youth in the Red Sox’s rotation, the return of Crochet and Early, along with Johan Oviedo and Kutter Crawford, could go a long way in getting the team to the finish line. Tolle and Bennett are already near career highs in innings and will have to be protected down the stretch. Crochet didn’t sound particularly close to returning, but was happy with the progress he made.
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“Attacking each day, with the same plan and that’s just the goal to build rotator cuff strength back. Me and the training staff are very optimistic about the recovery process and with the ground that I’ve made up since being injured,” Crochet said.
Even without Crochet, the Red Sox can’t stop winning. The bats have come alive, the bullpen is lights out, and the rotation is as steady as they come. If Crochet can come back to help the team down the stretch, who knows how far this team can go.
If you enjoyed this, try a Crochet’s Pale Ale. If you didn’t, try it anyway. Thanks to Sam Adams for setting up the interview; that gesture was almost as nice as the beer is. Listening to audio of myself asking questions makes me cringe, so I sipped one while I wrote this. It hit the spot.
