Here’s an Opening Day breakdown — @soxnerd style — of White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet:
*The left-hander will be making his first professional start when the White Sox christen their 124th campaign on today against the Detroit Tigers.
Crochet will be the first White Sox pitcher to make an opening day start for his first career big league start since 1901 when Roy Patterson threw the first official pitch in American League history (h/t Chris Kamka).
In addition Crochet will be the ninth pitcher in the last 110 years to make his first career start on Opening Day, joining a list that includes Fernando Valenzuela and Hall-of-Famer Lefty Grove (h/t Sarah Langs)
*Opening Day will be the 24-year old’s first start in a “meaningful” game since March 7, 2020 when he struck out six while giving up two hits in 3.1 innings for the University of Tennessee against Wright State.
95 days later Crochet was drafted by the Sox and 69 days after that he made his MLB debut where he threw four of his pitches over 100 mph
*Starts have been few and far between for Crochet since he enrolled at Tennessee. When he opens today, it will be just the 17th time he has started a game. That’s out of 138 appearances.
*Crochet went 3.2 innings in his spring training finale on March 21st. He has never logged that many innings in a big league game. The native of Ocean Springs, Miss., has only gone three innings once and that came on April 25, 2021 when he blanked the Rangers.
*The last time Crochet went longer than 3.2 innings was on May 11, 2019 when he tossed 6.1 innings for Tennessee and got the win vs. Florida but he was labeled for seven runs on seven hits, including three homers, in that one.
*Crochet’s longest start at Tennessee was an 8-inning effort in a win over Cincinnati on March 9, 2018.
*Crochet will be the first 45 to start for the Sox on opening day since Carlos Lee in 2004. Of the five Sox players who started on Opening Day wearing 45, only one – Orval Grove in 1944 – was a pitcher