White Sox Make Surprise Announcement for Opening Day Starter

Earlier this month, it seemed as if starting pitcher Dylan Cease was in line to be the Opening Day starter for the Chicago White Sox. However, those plans changed dramatically, as Chicago traded Cease last week to the San Diego Padres for multiple prospects.

Without Cease leading the White Sox’s starting rotation, the team was placed in a tough spot as their next-best starter was Michael Kopech or Erick Fedde. However, Kopech was surprisingly sent to the bullpen, which means the Sox had to make an out-of-the-box decision for Opening Day.

Chicago manager Pedro Grifol announced Monday that Garrett Crochet will be the team’s Opening Day starter when they face the Detroit Tigers on Mar. 28. 

Crochet has spent his entire professional career as a reliever, but the White Sox believe he’s ready to take on the challenge as a starter. Last season, Crochet made 13 appearances out of the bullpen, recording a 3.55 ERA. Overall, he has a 2.71 career ERA, which is pretty good for a reliever at his age.

The 24-year-old right-handed pitcher has made four appearances (one start) thus far in Spring Training. Crochet has a pristine 0.00 ERA while striking out 12 batters and only giving up seven hits in nine innings.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how many innings Crochet will go later this month, as it is a new era of Chicago White Sox baseball. 

The White Sox aren’t expected to do much this year as the third-best odds (+290 on FanDuel Sportsbook) to finish with the worst record in baseball. However, if Chicago can see some growth from young players like Crochet, they might have a promising future.

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