White Sox postseason bullpen would have nastier look with Crochet, Bummer
Garrett Crochet was lights out in his debut; and Aaron Bummer, the White Sox’ top lefty reliever, appears close to return
On Friday afternoon, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn made a surprise announcement: Left-hander Garrett Crochet, the 11th player selected in the draft only three months ago, had joined the team in Cincinnati for a look-see.
That night, he looked good.
Really, really good, in fact. Like 101-mph good with command. Like three-up, three-down good with two strikeouts in a 13-pitch sixth inning against the lower third of the Reds lineup in a 7-1 Sox loss. Brian Goodwin (strikeout looking), Jose Garcia (strikeout swinging) and Tyler Barnhart (groundout to first) went down quickly on a night the Reds, including Barnhart, slugged four homes against Sox prospect Jonathan Stiever.
With no minor league games to prepare for the majors, Crochet got his prep work done in bullpen sessions and sim games at the Sox’ training facility in Schaumburg. His confidence grew by the day.
“After [Friday night], it’s still going up,” he said
Crochet made such an impression that plans were put in place to let him debut with the goal of adding a potentially lethal arm in the bullpen for the postseason.
“Obviously very impressive,” manager Rick Renteria said. “We just keep moving forward and see where it takes us.”
Crochet won’t pitch with perfection every night. And remember, Carson Fulmer, the No. 8 overall pick in 2015 by the Sox, spectacularly struck out the Angels’ Albert Pujols to open a scoreless two-inning debut in 2016 and look what that led to.
But Crochet’s outing was something else. Thirteen pitches, nine strikes and six offerings at 100 or 101 mph. His one pitch at 101.5 mph was the fastest by a Sox in the pitch-tracking era. To think his last real game was with Tennessee, for whom he pitched only 3 1/3 innings his junior season this spring.
Now if the Sox can get top bullpen lefty Aaron Bummer (1.23 ERA) healthy for the playoffs, they could be well fortified from the left side. Bummer hasn’t pitched since Aug. 7 because of a biceps issue, but he looked good throwing a 20-pitch sim game Saturday in Cincinnati, Renteria said.
“He feels good,” Renteria said. “So we’re very positive about how he’s progressing.”
The Sox bullpen ranked sixth in the major leagues with a 3.58, and it was 1.68 in the last 13 games. Hahn said he expects right-hander Evan Marshall to return from the IL (shoulder inflammation) by the end of the week. Marshall and rookies Codi Heuer and Matt Foster have been the most effective righties out of the pen in front of closer Alex Colome (0.89 ERA, 12 for 13 in save opportunities).
As the Sox sort out their 28-man roster for the postseason, which begins with a best of three Wild Card series Sept. 29, they also have right-handers Reynaldo Lopez and Jimmy Cordero in the mix and lefties Gio Gonzalez, Jace Fry and Ross Detwiler. And Carlos Rodon, on the IL with a sore shoulder, hasn’t been ruled out.
Nor has Crochet, the first pitcher to go straight to the major leagues in his draft year since Mike Morgan and Tim Conroy in 1978.
“We do think he has the potential to make us stronger here over the next several weeks,” general manager Rick Hahn said.