Breaking: Vols Pitcher Crochet Drafted in 1st Round of Major League Draft
Garrett Crochet has already been drafted by an MLB franchise once in his baseball career. In 2017, the Milwaukee Brewers drafted the Southpaw in the 34th round straight out of high school.
Flash forward to 2020, and Crochet's name was just called in the first round. Crochet was drafted with the 11th overall pick by the Chicago White Sox.
Crochet's 2020 season was cut short by an injury before the season being ended by the COVID-19 shutdown. Crochet started the season against Wright State with 3.1 shutout innings and striking out six batters.
During his time in Knoxville, Crochet appeared in 36 games with 10 wins and 9 losses to go along with 4 saves.
Crochet is the first Tennessee Volunteer to be drafted in the first round since Nick Senzel was drafted 2nd overall in 2016. Several more Vols remain on the board as potential early-round prospects.
MLB.com's David Adler listed 10 things to know about Crochet in Late May, here are a few of the more interesting ones from Adler's write-up:
• Crochet brings the heat. The big lefty was working at 96-100 mph with his fastball last fall, and he also has a high spin rate. That's a recipe for swings-and-misses.
• The first time Crochet reached triple-digit velo, as far as he knows, was during one of Tennessee's Fall World Series scrimmages in 2019.
How good is Crochet's heater? In a recent Baseball America poll of MLB scouting departments, Crochet was picked as the college pitcher with the best fastball in the Draft. He edged Minnesota's Max Meyer (MLB Pipeline's No. 9 Draft prospect), Dallas Baptist's Burl Carraway (No. 49), Notre Dame's Joe Boyle (No. 166) and Oklahoma's Cade Cavalli (No. 22).
• Crochet pitched against fellow top 2020 Draft prospect J.T. Ginn (No. 44) as a high schooler. Crochet's Ocean Springs team played Ginn's Brandon squad in the 2017 Mississippi state playoffs. Crochet pitched a complete-game victory.
• In his last regular-season start of 2019, his sophomore year at Tennessee, Crochet was hit in the face with a line drive and suffered a broken jaw that required a plate to be inserted. Not only did he return two weeks later, in the NCAA Tournament, he pitched the Vols to their first tournament win since 2005 with 2 1/3 scoreless innings and four strikeouts against UNC Wilmington.
• Crochet is tied for the tallest player of MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Draft prospects for 2020. Oklahoma high school left-hander Dax Fulton (No. 43), Texas high-school right-hander Tanner Witt (No. 53), University of Florida right-hander Tommy Mace (No. 70) and East Carolina right-hander Gavin Williams (No. 91) are also 6-foot-6.