MLB Analyst Endorses Red Sox’s Garrett Crochet In AL Cy Young Race

As the Boston Red Sox battle for playoff positioning, Garrett Crochet will find himself in another heated competition this September.

Crochet will close his first season in Boston as a legitimate American League Cy Young Award contender. The 26-year-old southpaw must dethrone Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in what’s becoming a two-man race.

MLB Network debated Crochet’s Cy Young candidacy when asking “Strike or Ball” on Friday’s “MLB Central.” Mark DeRosa, a former player who will manage Team USA in next year’s World Baseball Classic, touted the Red Sox star despite feeling Skubal may maintain an edge.

“Obviously, Skubal is still in the lead here,” DeRosa said. “I’m gonna say strike just because I want to honor what Garrett Crochet has done.”

After moving to the starting rotation last year, Crochet leads the American League with 172 1/3 innings pitched this season. The 6-foot-6 hurler has become a workhorse despite the Chicago White Sox limiting his usage last summer.

“Moving to Boston, he has acclimated himself to being the face of that rotation,” DeRosa said. “It’s win day when he steps — he looks like an absolutely freakazoid walking around Fenway Park. I’m in on everything he’s meant to them.”

With 214 strikeouts, Crochet is two ahead of Skubal for the MLB lead. However, his elite 2.40 ERA and 1.06 WHIP trail Skubal’s 2.28 ERA and 0.87 WHIP. Last year’s winner also wields the best strikeout minus walks percentage (29.5) among all qualified starters.

Skubal ends August as a narrow betting favorite (-150) above Crochet (+120) on FanDuel Sportsbook, but the AL Cy Young Award race remains an open competition down the stretch.