White Sox Opening Day starter will do something no other South Sider has done in over 120 years

White Sox Opening Day starter will do something no other South Sider has done in over 120 years originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The White Sox announced on Monday that Garrett Crochet will be their Opening Day starter this year.

After the team traded Dylan Cease to the Padres and moved Michael Kopech to the bullpen there was no favorite for the recognition. However Crochet has been known to have some of the best stuff on the staff. According to Baseball Savant, Crochet’s fastball sit at just over 96 mph and generated a swing and miss 29% of the time in 2023. He got hitters to whiff on his 85 mph slider 25% of the time.

The White Sox selected Crochet with the No. 11 pick of the 2020 draft and he made his major league debut in September of that year. All of his 72 career appearances up to this point have been as a reliever. In those 72 games, Crochet has a 2.71 ERA, 1.329 WHIP, 85 strikeouts and 40 walks in 73 innings.

The plan was always to stretch Crochet out for extended work this year. Now he’ll make White Sox history, too. According to stats guru Chris Kamka, Crochet will become the first White Sox pitcher to make his first career start on Opening Day since Roy Patterson in 1901.

The White Sox start their season at home against the Tigers on Mar. 28.

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