Garrett Crochet entered spring training fresh off one of the most dominant pitching seasons in Boston Red Sox history. Thus, one would expect that he'd spend his warm-up time preparing dilligently for a highly anticipated encore in 2026.
Unfortunately, the results didn't match the vibe, as the 26-year-old lefty surrendered a 7.36 ERA and 5.36 FIP in 14 2/3 innings in the Grapefruit League. It was a stark contrast from last year, when he utterly dominated spring training by allowing just one run across five stars.
But this time of year, the results are never as important as the process. Crochet is keeping that in mind, telling reporters that he plans to reverse his fortunes come Opening Day.
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) March 21, 2026
"Last year, good spring, bad first start. This year, bad spring... well, I can only hope," the southpaw said to the media following his final spring outing.
At the very least, it's the right attitude.
Garrett Crochet's ugly Red Sox spring training performance only comes with one real red flag
Leading the American League in workload (205 1/3 innings), the War Pig accumulated an MLB-leading 255 strikeouts. His 2.59 ERA and 6.3 bWAR were enough to earn him a second-place finish in American League Cy Young Award voting, behind only back-to-back champion Tarik Skubal.
Is that really the résumé of a pitcher we should be doubting because he was a little roughed up in four spring training starts? No, especially since we know he's still tinkering with his new splitter rather than relying on the dominant fastball-cutter-sweeper mix that made him such a weapon last year.
If nothing else, the projection models haven't been deterred by his exhibition results. All of them still foresee another brilliant season from Crochet, who should be competing with Skubal yet again for the top pitching award in the Junior Circuit.
The one aspect of his game that does raise some alarm bells was his inability to rack up strikeouts, which have never been a problem in the past. Last season, Crochet punched out 31.3% of opposing hitters (45.5% in spring training); that number sat at just 12.9% across his tune-up outings this year.
Nevertheless, manager Alex Cora isn't worried about the granular details. He know that his ace won't have a problem dialing up his best stuff when the moment calls for it.
"We were ahead in counts. We just didn’t finish them,” Cora said. “He got his reps. He touched the rubber in the sixth, which is good enough for us. Now, he’ll be ready for Cincinnati."
Assuming that issue is resolved by with a tighter pitch mix and good old fashioned Opening Day adrenaline, Crochet should have no issue improving upon his "bad" start from last year, seeing as he won't have contentious contract negotiations hanging over his head this time around.