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TAMPA, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 19: Garrett Crochet #35 of the Boston Red Sox pitches in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field on September 19, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

As sports fans, we tend to think irrationally. If you were thinking rationally, you would be able to understand that Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet’s struggles in Spring Training were nothing more than a symptom of testing some new stuff out.

But that reactionary irrationality was certainly at the forefront of Sox fan’s minds as Crochet limped through Spring Training with an ERA of 7.36. Yes, it was only 14 innings, but Crochet did not look sharp in Fort Myers; his command was off, the break on his pitches were off, and he didn’t look like the stud he typically is.

Well, any doubts from fans were quickly quelled after Crochet’s dazzling opening day start in Cincinnati. The 6-foot-6 southpaw went six innings, allowing just three hits while striking out eight batters.

Was he perfect? No; I think most would agree with that. But if six innings of shutout ball is the baseline for Crochet with the obvious upside once he’s in midseason form, then he is very well on his way to another season as a Cy Young candidate.

 

Crochet Opens Up on Spring Struggles After Opening Day

Always a straight shooter, Crochet admitted himself that he felt off this Spring. 

“I’ve got a lot of self-belief, but in the moment this spring, I definitely thought I sucked,” Crochet said after Thursday’s season opener. “But I knew that wasn’t who I was. You got to be able to turn the page, and no better time to do it than first game of the season. Just trying to help get the guys off on the right foot.”

Crochet worked on adding a splitter to his arsenal this offseason, and credits some of his Spring struggles to trying to implement that pitch. Once it was game time in the regular season though, he completely scrapped it.

“Just a lot more strikes, a lot more usage of the three fastballs,” Crochet said. “In spring, toying with the splitter, today it was like, ‘Hey, I’m banging the splitter for the year.’ I’ll just go back to the changeup I was throwing last year, and was able to flash that a couple times but didn’t overuse that or the sweeper, and I just felt like I was attacking with strengths and weaknesses when needed to be.”

 

Crochet Poised to Make Noise Once Again

Crochet’s performance on Thursday should make every baseball fan realize that anything seen in Spring Training should be taken with a grain of salt. Instead of looking at his 14 exhibition innings, we should’ve just remembered what Crochet did last season, which was nothing short of spectacular.

Of course, his stats last year were outstanding: in 205.1 innings pitched, he posted an ERA of 2.59, a record of 18-5, and struck out 25 batters. He was barely edged out by Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal for the American League Cy Young award.

If Thursday’s performance was a sign of things to come for Crochet, then last year might have just been the beginning of a long run of success in Boston.

Matt Skillings Matt Skillings is a Boston based sports journalist and a graduate of UMass Amherst, where he majored in journalism and communication. Matt covered the UMass men’s ice hockey team for three years for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. He was also a media intern for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League for two summers. Matt has additional bylines with the New England Hockey Journal, the Boston Globe and MassLive. More about Matt Skillings

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