Rick Hahn gives horrific news on Garrett Crochet’s injury

The Chicago White Sox has one of the best bullpens in baseball. They added Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros respectively to an already loaded group.

Even with the trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for AJ Pollock, the bullpen that the White Sox have is amazing. Unfortunately, it took a slight hit on Friday when Rick Hahn announced that the initial MRI for Garrett Crochet revealed that he needs Tommy John.

They are going to get a second opinion but it is likely going to be the case. We feared this after 2020 ended but he ended up being great and healthy in 2021. That is going to be a tough thing for Crochet to deal with but many before him have done it very well.

Crochet left the spring game against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday and that is when the injury was sustained. It is not great news for the White Sox but they are going to have to work around it in 2022.

The 2022 Chicago White Sox might be without Garrett Crochet for the year.

Some people wondered why the White Sox spent so much on bullpen help this offseason. Well, injuries happen to pitchers and you need an extremely deep bullpen in order to make a big playoff run. The White Sox have that. They could now even be in the market for another one if the right fit became available.

It was assumed that Crochet would take Michael Kopech’s role in the bullpen. Kopech is now going to be a starter in the rotation as that was his original plan before his Tommy John in 2018. The White Sox are going to need the rest of the pen to pick up Crochet’s innings by committee.

He is an extremely gifted pitcher that was a first-round pick for a reason. He gets the ball into the upper 90s and even reaches triple digits when he really leans into one. His mechanics might have something to do with this injury as it felt like he would eventually have it at some point.

If he was going to have it, it is good to get it out of the way now early in his career. Hopefully, he is just able to recover properly and get back to full strength as soon as possible. The Chicago White Sox would be lucky to add a talent like this back in the spring training of 2023.