Rank History
| Year | Team | Position | Team Rank | OFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | CHW | LHP | 2 | 55 |
Grades Update: Dec 2020
| OFP | Role | FB | SL | CH | Ctr/Cmd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 60 | 70 | 60 | 45 | 50/45 |
Dec 2020 Report
Evaluator: Geoff Pontes
Age: 22 yr
Height: 6-6
Weight: 218 lbs
Hits/Throws: L/L
Acquired: 2020 Round 1
RuleV: On 40-Man Roster
Physical Description: Tall and extremely athletic lefthander with a high-waisted build that should add good weight over the years. Close to physical peak already, high level athlete and conditioning. Repeats his mechanics well, and uses his athleticism to create deception.
Delivery & Mechanics: Athletic but offbeat mechanically, big leg kick that closes off his front side to the plate as he pushes off from the third base side of the rubber before exploding toward home. The motion is violent but it works for him as he extends well and drops down to deliver from a low three quarters slot. There's some inconsistency in his back leg but he's able to repeat his motion for the most part landing on-line with the target at release. Serious stress on the arm and shoulder have led to frequent injuries.
Fastball: Sits 97-99 mph touching 100. Like all of Crochet's pitches everything breaks gloveside. The angle he creates with his arm action and release point play up his fastball. Not that he needs it with elite velocity. His command of the pitch particularly to his gloveside was tremendous as he fooled right-handed hitters consistently despite living on the inner-half of the plate. That's a double-edged sword as right-handed hitters with elite bat speed should be able to turn on it to their pull-side. Still a tall order. Average 100 mph at the major league level out of the draft. Grade: 70
Slider: Averaged 85 to 87 mph on the pitch as an amateur, but sat 86.9 mph out of the pen in 2020. Much like his fastball the slider breaks gloveside heavily, but he shows advanced feel for the pitch. Adept at manipulating break and backfooting it to right-handed batters. The tremendous sweep on the pitch is tough to lay off for left-handed hitters as it looks like it's headed to the outside portion of the plate before dropping with late tail to the gloveside. It moves on a very similar tunnel to his fastball but with late vertical tail. His best secondary, and an elite swing and miss pitch. High usage rate typically, but was only thrown around 10% of the time in his MLB debut. It's a plus pitch. Grade: 60
Changeup: Initially I mistook a few of them for the curveball but on second look it's clearly a changeup as the pitch runs armside with nice fade. He does a good job of selling the pitch with his arm speed and the early movement on the pitch which starts off with the sweeping angle before pulling the string and watching it run armside. With his infrequent use of it I'd only be comfortable grading it 45 present, but it's clearly a potential swing and miss pitch. Solid velocity separation from the fastball averaged 91-92 mph. Grade: 45
Control and Command: Did not walk a batter across six major league innings in 2020 fresh out of the draft. Displayed average strike throwing as an amateur in a starter's role and his control and command seemed to tick up in relief with the White Sox. His stuff has enough intense movement that elite pinpoint precision is unlikely to manifest but it's an average control with fringe-average command profile. Crochet is the type of arm where it's less about hitting spots and more about getting it in the zone. Think Tyler Glasnow. Control: 50 | Command: 45
Overall: Perhaps a future bullpen ace if the White Sox decide to go that way. The dreaded forearm tightness reared its ugly head in 2020, but it turned out to be a mild flexor strain. Due to Crochet's mechanics and injury history there's a fair amount of risk in the profile despite his ascent. It's unheard of that a player would join a major league club out of the draft, but the unusual circumstances of 2020 and Crochet's unique arsenal were the perfect combination. We know what he can be in a bullpen role already, but there's many that view Crochet as a capable starting pitching prospect. Despite the injury risk we're comfortable labeling Crochet a high leverage relief arm. Which by all accounts is not a tremendous leap. There's still an outside shot the White Sox develop Crochet as a starter, but frankly the injury risk coupled with his impressive debut might make it too difficult to remove him from the backend of the pen.
OFP: 55
Role: 60 - High Leverage Reliever
Risk: Moderate
