The Boston Red Sox bet big on Garrett Crochet last year — twice, actually. When Boston pulled the trigger to land the flame-throwing lefty, they were buying potential versus upside. At that point, Crochet had a checkered injury history, had only one year of starting under his belt, and averaged just 4.56 innings per start in 2024.
The second bet came when they doubled down and handed Crochet a massive six-year, $170 million extension on April 1. Crochet quickly proved these were well-thought-out bets, racking up an MLB-best 255 strikeouts while being one of only three pitchers to top the 200-inning plateau, and finishing second in the American League Cy Young voting.
The Red Sox got everything they could have wanted, and then some, while the rest of the league learned that Crochet is one of the few, true fire-breathing aces that exist in the game today. In most years, Crochet's dominance would have ended with him actually taking home the Cy Young trophy, but the only American League hurler with a legitimate case to be better than him, Tarik Skubal, stood in the way.
That might not be for long, though, as Crochet has spent the offseason making a minor tweak that could unleash further pain on opposing hitters.
According to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, Crochet is replacing his seldom-used changeup with a splitter that he picked up during his workouts at Vanderbilt this offseason.
Garrett Crochet scrapping his changeup for a splitter could elevate the Red Sox's ace even further and make him the AL Cy Young favorite in 2026
A new, minor twist for Garrett Crochet this season: His changeup (which he threw just 4% of the time last year) is now more of a splitter, thanks to a new grip he learned at Vanderbilt over the offseason.
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) February 10, 2026
Crochet's changeup was nothing more than a show-me offering, broken out only against righties and utilized 4% of the time. While there are plenty of power pitchers with effective changeups, the switch to a harder off-speed offering like a splitter could pay dividends for the southpaw.
The 26-year-old easily dominated left-handed hitters last season, and while he was no slouch against righties, they were able to touch him up a bit more than their lefty counterparts. Right-handed bats slugged .374 against Crochet last season, which isn't an astronomical number, but is significantly more than the anemic .262 mark same-handed hitters mustered against him.
When those righty hitters were able to get a hold of a Crochet pitch, they had a decent shot of going a long way. He gave up 1.15 HR/9 against right-handed batters last season, versus just 0.65 HR/9.
A good part of the reason for that could be that, without faith in his changeup, the vast majority of his offerings were on the inside part of the plate to righties. If he feels comfortable with this new splitter, it will allow him to better attack both edges of the dish, creating more hesitation and generating less hard contact.
Could that be enough to put him over the top in this year's Cy Young chase? That will depend on how effectively he can actually throw the new pitch, as well as the frequency with which he adds it to his mix. How it looks in game action will be one of the more fascinating nuggets to watch this spring.
What is for sure is, splitter or not, Crochet is a good bet to break through and capture a Cy Young of his owner sooner or later.