"We put ourselves in this position early on" - Garrett Crochet ponders upon disastrous season after White Sox suffer record-breaking 121st loss
Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet is not getting overly affected after the team went down to a record-breaking 121st loss of the season with their 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Friday night. Crochet feels the team was almost bound to be in this predicament after getting off to a calamitous start to the season.
Crochet's emergence has been one of the few bright spots for the White Sox this year. He is presently in his fourth MLB campaign after making his comeback from elbow surgery last year, which kept him out for the entire 2022 season. The lefty pitcher was promoted from a reliever into a starting role for 2024, and he delivered by earning the first All-Star selection of his career.
Garrett Crochet started on the mound for the White Sox in the loss to the Tigers on Friday and spoke to reporters after the game.
“No real emotions,” Crochet said via MLB.com. “We put ourselves in this position early on. We had a bad April. We just never dug ourselves out of that hole.
"We are where we are because of the way we played. But that’s just all it is,” he added.
The White Sox kicked off their season in March by losing all three games in that month before posting a 6-21 record in April. They did not improve over the next couple of months before the team regressed even further following the All-Star break and the trade deadline.
Following their 121st defeat of the season on Friday, the White Sox have now set the mark for the most losses in a single season during the Modern Era (circa 1901).
I like the pieces that we have: Garrett Crochet ready to commit long-term future with White Sox
Although Crochet was expected to be shipped away by the White Sox during the trade deadline, such a move did not pan out eventually. Instead, he completed his first full season as a starting pitcher in the major leagues with the same team. Crochet has ended the year on a 6-12 record from 32 starts, along with a 3.58 ERA and 209 strikeouts.
Garrett Crochet recently shared his intention to sign a long-term contract with the White Sox during an extended media session on Thursday. He feels the team has the potential to improve greatly in the near future, even if their situation seems quite bleak at the moment.
"I like the pieces that we have. I like the relationships I’ve developed with this [pitching] staff,” Crochet said. “I’ve got a lot of trust in [General Manager Chris] Getz, and I think so does everybody in our clubhouse.
"It’s now just a matter of letting our young guys develop and continue to get reps," he added. "You can kind of see everything coming together throughout the year as guys started to come up," he added.
Garrett Crochet is set for salary arbitration at the end of this year and remains attached to the White Sox until he becomes a free agent in 2027.
Crochet and Co. have two more games left against the Detroit Tigers to close out the regular season, with the second of the three-game series set to be played on Saturday.