Garrett Crochet Makes Admission Before Red Sox Spring Training Debut

Red Sox fans are in for a treat Sunday afternoon.

Garrett Crochet is set to make his Boston spring training debut in the club’s exhibition clash with the rival Toronto Blue Jays. The star left-hander probably won’t be on the hill for very long, but the Fenway Faithful nonetheless will receive a glimpse of why the Red Sox were so motivated to acquire Crochet over the offseason.

One of those reasons? A blazing fastball that regularly registers in the high 90s on the radar gun and occasionally clocks in at triple digits. As MassLive pointed out in a column published Sunday, opposing batters hit a measly .198 against Crochet’s heater last season.

A day before his debut in Fort Myers, Fla., the 2024 All-Star was asked what makes his fastball so effective outside of velocity. Crochet, perhaps trying to stay modest, didn’t dive deep into the numbers.

“To be honest, I don’t know because metrically it’s nothing crazy,” Crochet told reporters Saturday, per MassLive.

The 25-year-old eventually surmised a reason why hitters have such a tough time with his best pitch.

“I think it’s having three different variations of fastballs (four-seam, cut fastball, sinker) that makes the four-seam pop a little bit more,” Crochet told reporters. “Being teammates with Lance Lynn for a couple years and seeing how he navigated lineups being damn-near exclusively a fastball pitcher was something that always appealed to me. Since I kind of gained the velocity in college, that’s how I like to pitch.”

It’s safe to say Red Sox fans are eager for Crochet to take the mound every fifth day and show off that fastball that’s turned him into one of MLB’s best starters.