Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet is clearly one of the best pitchers in baseball. He’s proven that over the last two seasons, but especially last year, when he led the Major Leagues with 255 strikeouts while going 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA over 205 1/3 innings.
While he didn’t win the AL Cy Young, he finished runner-up to Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in a close race. Along with Skubal and NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes, Crochet is arguably a top-three pitcher in the sport. He’s definitely in the top five after ranking fourth among all pitchers in both FanGraphs WAR and Baseball-Reference WAR last season.
However, MLB Network doesn’t see it that way. “The Shredder” spit out its preseason starting pitcher rankings on Wednesday, and Crochet missed the top five completely. It had him at sixth, below Skubal, Skenes, Zack Wheeler, Chris Sale and Cristopher Sanchez.
As mentioned, Skubal and Skenes being ahead of him is totally valid. Sanchez is neck and neck with Crochet but had a higher WAR last year, so that’s defensible as well.
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It’s harder to justify Wheeler and Sale, though. Both have longer track records, of course, but both missed much of last season with injury. Sale has been notoriously injury-prone this decade, and both are in their mid-30s.
Crochet was better than both last year, and will likely be superior again this year and going forward. He’s a decade younger than them, after all, and appears to be much more durable at this stage of their careers.
Featured image via Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images
