Brian Bannister spent the 2024 season working with Garrett Crochet, and he actually believes the Pink Sox simply landed among the finest pitchers within the sport.
Bannister, who spent a couple of years within the Boston entrance workplace and within the dugout, was with the Chicago White Sox in 2024. The White Sox employed Bannister as a senior pitching advisor on the finish of the 2023 season, and within the final year-plus, he noticed Crochet harness his ridiculous stuff in a method that makes the sky the restrict for the 25-year-old left-hander.
It’s protected to say Bannister believes the Pink Sox made a shrewd transfer, even when it price them 4 prime prospects to land Crochet from Chicago final week.
“I feel Garrett would have gained the Cy Younger final 12 months if he was simply allowed to be himself,” Bannister stated in an interview with Audacy’s Rob Bradford on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast. “I don’t suppose it was in the very best curiosity long run, however for those who take a look at his price stats: his capability to strike folks out, his capability to get swing and miss within the zone, his capability to restrict his walks — he’ll quit a homer every now and then — however I feel he’s certainly one of, he’s within the inside circle of one of many 5 finest pitchers in baseball subsequent 12 months. The Pink Sox bought a particular arm.”
That must be music to the ears of Pink Sox followers determined for his or her workforce so as to add front-line beginning pitching in a pivotal offseason. Crochet made a loud assertion in 2024, taking the ball 32 instances because the lone South Aspect vibrant spot. He struck out 209 batters in simply 146 innings whereas strolling simply two batters per 9 innings.
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The large southpaw has a blink-and-you-miss-it fastball that sits within the excessive 90s, and he has tweaked his arsenal within the final 12 months serving to him to unlock the potential that made him a first-round select of Tennessee in 2020.
That mixture of stuff and endurance makes him particular, Bannister argued.
“You’re mainly getting an elite, elite nearer, nearly like an Aroldis Chapman-type, however a man that’s able to going six innings and sustaining that degree of efficiency,” he added. “I actually suppose the Pink Sox bought someone particular.”
If Craig Breslow and the Pink Sox entrance workplace can verify a few extra targets off their to-do checklist, it is going to be a near-perfect winter for Boston. Simply getting Crochet places the Sox in a a lot better place to contend in 2025 — and past.
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