Red Sox Ace Garrett Crochet Gives Scathing 1-Word Response To Fenway Park Debut

Safe to say the lefty has high standards for himself...

Apr 8, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet (35) pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

New Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet's Fenway Park debut wasn't quite what he or the fans dreamed it would be.

Crochet took the loss in the Red Sox's 6-1 defeat against the Toronto Blue Jays, in a game that may as well have been played in an industrial deep freezer. The gametime temperature of 35 degrees was the third-coldest in Fenway history, per Baseball Reference.

Coming off his longest outing as a big-leaguer in terms of innings pitched, Crochet threw his highest pitch total as a big-leaguer on Tuesday night. Red Sox manager Alex Cora let him throw 107 pitches in 5 2/3 innings of work, as two errors in the sixth inning turned the outing into a slog.

But Crochet only allowed one earned run, a solo home run in the sixth by red-hot Blue Jays slugger George Springer. He struggled to hit his spots and his velocity was down throughout the start, so all things considered, things could have gone a lot worse.

When Crochet was asked to rate his stuff during the start, however, he gave a one-word response that shows just how a high a standard to which the 25-year-old holds himself.

“Terrible,” Crochet said, per MLB.com's Ian Browne. “There really hasn't been a start this year where I feel like I've had my best stuff. Hopefully that's because I'm building and they're all going to come later in the year.

"But just not getting to the glove side very well with the four-seam or the cutter, a lot of over-correcting with the two and just yanking and not really driving it there.”

Crochet did strike out five batters, but the command was his biggest concern. He walked four batters, loaded the bases in the first inning and went to a 3-0 count before recovering to punch out Davis Schneider, and walked two of the final three batters he faced before being pulled.

The Red Sox have to be careful not to tire out Crochet too early in the season. Shouldering an unprecedented workload in back-to-back starts, even with an extra day of preparation before both outings, is a cause for early concern.

However, the new $170 million man is grinding on the mound, keeping runs (mostly) off the scoreboard, and saying all the right things off the field. The Red Sox have to be thrilled he's theirs for at least six years.

More MLB: Red Sox Might Soon DFA $90 Million Fan-Favorite, MLB Insider Speculates