Crochet on playoff roster? It could happen

Garrett Crochet, the White Sox top pick in the 2020 MLB Draft and 11th overall, is receiving serious consideration for the White Sox playoff roster.

With 13 pitches thrown faster than 100 mph in his two outings against the Reds, paired with a nasty slider and a really good changeup, it actually would be a surprise if the 21-year-old weren’t included. But when White Sox director of player development Chris Getz first met Crochet following the Draft, the 6-foot-6 left-hander was calmly frustrated he wasn’t able to pitch more than 3 1/3 innings at the University of Tennessee this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He wanted to show professional baseball what he was capable of doing, and he felt like that was cut short,” Getz said. “That told me something.

“It wasn’t, 'I’m better than this guy' or, 'I should have been taken higher.' It was just belief in his ability, and he felt like with more of a college season, more innings, more eyes on him, more information on him, that he perhaps would have been looked at as a higher pick.”

Friday’s outing for Crochet marked the 12th Major League debut for the White Sox this season. Crochet’s ascension was a little more startling in that he'd never thrown a pitch in professional ball aside from at the team’s alternate training facility in Schaumburg, Ill. But now he’s pushing to be part of the team’s first postseason appearance since 2008.

“You hope every outing that he has here until the end of the season will position him for that opportunity in a playoff run,” Getz said. “He's pitched well so far.

“He needs to continue to, certainly, pound the zone, use all three pitches, stay within himself. And if he's able to do that, it doesn't take the best evaluator in baseball to know that we should put him in a position to help our club down this playoff stretch.”

Instructs should be important development time
White Sox instructional league action begins Sept. 28 with intake testing at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. The team will wait for those results, do physicals and have players on the field by Oct. 1. The action will run until Oct. 31, marking an important time for the organization with no 2020 Minor League season and no Arizona Fall League.

“It’s been personally frustrating and organizationally frustrating [that] we haven’t had a Minor League season for these guys to continue their development,” Getz said. “But we are going to make the best of this situation, just like we have at the alternate site.

“There are pieces being observed and learned at the alternate site that we can apply in an instructional league setting or even further even in the future, throughout a Minor League season or Spring Training. There’s just been a lot of quality takeaways. But it’s about getting reps, getting around these guys and getting as much as we can in this short period of time to feel like we’ve accomplished some things this season.”

Third to first
• Left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer threw another side session Monday in Cleveland. He is on the injured list with a nerve issue near his left biceps tendon, but the White Sox hope to have him back during this final week to put him through a sort of playoff test.

Carlos Rodón, sidelined by left shoulder soreness and then back problems, threw two innings Sunday, per manager Rick Renteria.

“It went well,” Renteria said. “They’re both progressing well.”

• Shortstop Tim Anderson, who exited in the seventh inning of Sunday’s loss with a cramped right hamstring, was back in Monday’s starting lineup.

"He came in early, was checked out by the medical staff, came out, did some running, ran the bases,” Renteria said. “No difference in gait, no difference in anything he's got.

“His word is, ‘I feel good.’ So, we did everything we could to make sure that he's fine, trust his word. He had no look of any limitations when he was out there running, so he's in there.”

He said it
“Everybody's making adjustments during the course of the year. I don't think it's anything that right now at this particular point we're too concerned about. We're trying to win today and deal with everything else when it comes. We're not concerned about that.” -- Renteria, on the White Sox being cautious with how they approach this four-game Indians series, considering they could face them in the Wild Card Series starting Sept. 29