The mock drafts were mostly wrong over the course of the first 10 picks, but when it came to No. 11, they got it right.
The White Sox indeed drafted Tennessee lefty Garrett Crochet with their first-round pick.
The White Sox have had luck with hard-throwing low-slot lefties with durability concerns before, and they’re going back to the well with Crochet, who doesn’t turn 21 until the 21st of the month.
Over the past two seasons, Crochet has missed time due to a broken jaw (line drive) and a sore shoulder (precautionary reasons). He overpowered Wright State in his only performance of the 2020 season, sitting 97 mph with his fastball, and he hit 100 mph in post-stoppage bullpen sessions.
He doesn’t have a rich track record of going to the post every five days with what he throws, which makes the bullpen a little too likely for some.
Speaking of which…
What does he throw?
Josh showed the evolution of Crochet’s arsenal in detail here, but to summarize:
- Fastball: High-90s fastball with the second-highest spin rate in the draft class.
- Slider: Overtook his curve as his velocity jumped.
- Changeup: One that he shouldn’t have thrown much in college.
PERTINENT: 2020 MLB Draft Player Profile: Garrett Crochet
Where did he rank?
In another comparison to Sale, Keith Law also likes Crochet the least:
- 2080 Baseball: No. 14
- Baseball America: No. 15
- ESPN.com: No. 16
- MLB.com: No. 18
- FanGraphs: No. 22
- Keith Law: No. 39
What’s to like?
Read the reports, and all of them say something to the effect of “could have the best overall stuff in the class,” as Baseball America did. Even Law agrees there, calling him “a huge arm, up to 99 with a grade-70 slider.” The delivery itself doesn’t generate concerns the way it did with Sale. Also, Crochet was a nuclear engineering major, which you don’t often see in the draft.
What’s not to like?
The short track record and severely abbreviated season means that Crochet didn’t get to display any growth in command, and Law says specifically that he struggled with glove-side command. He wipes out lefties, but he could use improvement on the changeup to make himself more dangerous against righties.
While Sale is a popular comp, the White Sox also thought they were drafting safe arms with Zack Burdi and Carson Fulmer, and they haven’t been able to click in either starting or bullpen roles.
What does he look like?
The top 10
Mock drafts blew up on the second pick, and they didn’t recover after the third.
- Detroit Tigers: Spencer Torkelson, 3B, Arizona State
- Baltimore Orioles: Heston Kjerstad, OF, Arkansas
- Miami Marlins: Max Meyer, RHP, Minnesota
- Kansas City Royals: Asa Lacy, LHP, Texas A&M
- Toronto Blue Jays: Austin Martin, SS, Vanderbilt
- Seattle Mariners: Emerson Hancock, RHP, Georgia
- Pittsburgh Pirates: Nick Gonzales, SS, New Mexico State
- San Diego Padres: Robert Hassell III, OF, Independence HS (Tenn.)
- Colorado Rockies: Zac Veen, C, Spruce Creek HS (Fla.)
- Los Angeles Angels: Reid Detmers, LHP, Louisville
(Photo of Garrett Crochet by John Korduner/Icon Sportswire)
I love the nuclear engineering major thing. I always get a kick out of that when these guys have legit majors.
Perhaps this is the best of both worlds. He clearly has a ton of upside, but the limited track record might allow us to sign him under-slot and save a few $$ for tomorrow’s picks.
I’ve seen this a couple places now and I’m kind of surprised. If they can get him underslot, great. I guess I just didn’t consider that when his name popped up. He wasn’t so much of a reach based on boards that I would expect that, but who knows. Fegan’s article specified that he didn’t think they’d need to go OVER slot, but didn’t say anything about going under.
I think as a fanbase we need to willfully mispronounce the last name. Garret Crochet (Kro-shay) sounds like something my kids do on a rainy November afternoon. But Garret Crochet (Crotch – et) sounds like the nasty fireballer opponents dread seeing in the late innings.
As a quilt book publisher, I would have preferred Garrett Quilt, but I’m starting to warm up to the pick. On TV they suggested he could be deployed like Andrew Miller. That would be a great weapon to have.
If they play a season, I wonder if they’d break camp with him. In a short season, a filthy lefty out of the pen could make a big difference. He’s not going to play minor league games this year, and he doesn’t have a lot of mileage on his arm. If he can retire major league hitters, start the clock.
Sox looking for pitching. They have the tenth pick tomorrow’
Cole Wilcox
-Clayton Beeter
-J.T. Ginn
-Jared Kelley
-Tanner Witt
-Carson Montgomery
-Christian Roa
-C.J. Van Eyk
-Burl Carraway
-Dax Fulton
-Tommy Mace
-Chris McMahon
-Logan Allen
-Nick Garcia
Carraway & Mace – it has juice but unfortunately I can’t think of what it could possibly be but a 70s-style cop show. Maybe retooled as a Masterpiece Theater murder mystery thing, like Father Dowling.
You want a 70’s Cop’s name and you ignore “Tommy Mace”
Ginn or Kelley please
I would be very surprised to see the Sox take Ginn, Wilcox or Kelley, but we’ll know in a few hours. Shirley did say after the first round that he was interested in more pitching.
I’m hoping for Kelley, but I doubt Crochet was an under slot pick. I also doubt he slides that far. Maybe Dingler?
:finger guns:
With day 2 looming and both still on the board, I figured I’d throw in an anecdote about UF RHP Tommy Mace and HS RHP Carson Montgomery.
I played HS ball in Florida recently (graduated 2018) and faced both in my career.
Mace was in my district, and I faced him probably 7-8 times. He was obviously a man amongst boys, but has the uncanny ability to command, while other HS fireballers we faced struggled to do so. He never showed much of a change, and the slider spun more than it broke, but he really didn’t need either. I was something like 0-6, though I did hit a deep fly ball once that was dropped by their CF. There’s a picture of me striking out on a high fastball against him in my yearbook. Fun times.
Montgomery I only faced once; we crossed paths in a showcase during his freshman year. He sat 86-88 and I hit a HR distance foul ball, then proceeded to ground out to third. Afterwards he came up to me and told me that I made nice contact. Nice kid, and I thought it was badass that he complimented me as if I were some starry eyed young kid even though I was 3 years older than him.
I also played little league ball with FSU C Matheu Nelson (ranked ~250 in the class) from age 9 up. Hoping he gets picked this draft; total class act who always carried himself like a big leaguer. Fantastic glove and was the most feared hitter in my county from age 9 onward through High school
Great stuff, thanks for the insight! This had me laughing:
From Lonenhagen. Interesting, though this could refer to almost anything:
Crochet is the tallest player drafted on day 1 this year. Does that count for anything?
I guess we can call it the Jon Rausch award???
I’d prefer the Randy Johnson award.
Saw CJ Van Eyk throw in the ACC a lot… he can pitch. I dont think Wilcox falls to 47 so CJ would be my next favorite pick if he is there. Little surprised he only measured at 6 foot 1 but I think he can definitely make it to the bigs as a back end starter one day.
!) Wilcox RHP 6)Fulton LHP
2)Ginn RHP 7) Winn RHP
3)Witt RHP 8)Mace RHP
4)Roa RHP 9)Henry RHP
5)Zemora SS 10)Servideo SS
oops. Wasn’t meant as a reply to you, knox
Just posting my remaining top 10.
You don’t like Kelly?
I don’t have faith in his ability to develop the CB. (I’m obviously heavily in the minority there)
IMO his low spin rate means future reliever.
I like Masyn Winn but as a Short Stop. He has all the tools to stick there. Real Short Stops are more rare, and therefore more valuable. At 5’11” he’s undersized for a Starting Pitcher. He’s just a super athlete, and maybe a little hot headed.
You’re absoultely correct. Not sure how I missed the height.
Make it my top 9 remaining.
well, he hits 98 MPH . That’s not chopped liver.
Side note on the TV coverage. Not sure where everyone else was watching, but I was on the ESPN feed. It was kind of annoying how they kept going over to Mendoza, Eduardo Perez, etc. (who probably know next to nothing about these guys), but I was so happy to see they used Kiley McDaniel as the in-studio analyst. Always enjoyed Kiley’s writing and he was tremendous in providing insight into these guys as they were selected. Hoping they have him be more of the main voice today vs. bouncing around to the others.