KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Former Tennessee pitcher and 2020 first-round draft pick Garrett Crochet has been called up to the Chicago White Sox major league roster, the team announced on Friday afternoon.
The hard-throwing lefty is the first player from the 2020 MLB Draft to be promoted to the major leagues. The White Sox selected Crochet with the No. 11 overall pick in this year’s shortened draft, making him the 17th player in program history to be picked in the first round.
Chicago clinched a playoff berth with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday and currently sits atop the American League standings (33-17) with 10 games remaining in the regular season. The White Sox begin a three-game series at Cincinnati tonight at 7:10 p.m. ET. Game two of the series will be broadcast nationally on FOX tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. ET.
During his three years with the Vols, Crochet developed into one of the top arms in college baseball, boasting a fastball that has been clocked at 100 mph.
Crochet was tabbed a preseason All-American by Baseball America and Perfect Game prior to the 2020 season. Despite being limited to just one appearance during his junior campaign due to arm soreness and the season being cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Crochet jumped up draft boards with impressive showings with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team last summer and a dominant fall in which he displayed an elite fastball that was consistently in the high-90s. He also showed improved command of his secondary pitches, specifically his slider and changeup.
As a sophomore in 2019, Crochet displayed his versatility, pitching in a variety of different roles and situations. The Ocean Springs, Mississippi, native made 18 appearances and six starts, starting the year in the bullpen before eventually moving into a weekend starting role during conference play. He finished third on the team with five victories and second on the squad with three saves. Crochet also ranked second on the team with 81 strikeouts in 65.0 innings pitched.
One of the most impressive moments of Crochet’s career came during the 2019 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. Just a few weeks after suffering a broken jaw that required surgery and metal plates to be inserted, Crochet returned to make two appearances and pitch six total innings during the regional.
In his first appearance after breaking his jaw in the final regular-season series of the year, Crochet tossed 2.1 scoreless innings in relief to earn the win over UNC Wilmington, which was Tennessee’s first NCAA tournament victory since 2005. He also pitched 3.2 innings in UT’s victory over Liberty to help the Vols advance to the regional championship.
Crochet showed flashes of his potential during an up and down freshman season in which he made 16 appearances and started 11 games. He finished the year tied for second on the team with five victories and was also second on the team with 62 strikeouts, which ranks fifth in program history for strikeouts by a freshman in a single season.
-UT Athletics
