Garrett Crochet is ‘gradually sharpening tools’ as the Chicago White Sox reliever’s return from surgery remains on target

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol recently had a question for reliever Garrett Crochet.

“‘You sure you’re not ready?’” Grifol recalled saying last week. “He put a smile on his face. I was like, ‘Are you sure you’re not ready?’”

The left-hander continues to take steps in his return from Tommy John surgery.

“I’m progressing as expected,” Crochet told the Tribune last week. “On track as far as I’m aware for the target date. I’ve been feeling good so far.”

At the start of camp, general manager Rick Hahn said Crochet would not appear in any Cactus League games.

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“However, we suspect he’ll be on a rehab assignment sometime in April,” Hahn added, “with the possibility of rejoining the club, if everything goes smoothly, sometime in approximately mid-May. As is usually the case, we’ll have a firmer grasp on his timeline once he’s out on a rehab assignment.”

Crochet threw a bullpen session Tuesday at Camelback Ranch.

“Gradually sharpening tools in my bullpens,” he said last week. “Getting a little bit more crisp and repeating my delivery very well. Feeling good.”

Crochet, 23, last appeared in a game last spring, exiting a March 31 Cactus League game against the Cincinnati Reds in Goodyear, Ariz.

He said the progression from then to now has been “awesome.”

“Obviously at some points in the rehab, you kind of wonder if you’re ever going to feel right,” Crochet said. “But here in the past few weeks since spring started and I’ve gotten further into my rehab process, I continue to feel better and better.”

Grifol has seen it in the work.

“If you go out there and see a bullpen, you’d never know that he’s not going to be ready,” Grifol said. “He’s on pace to get to us whenever that target date that they’ve got.

“He looks great. He’s strong. He’s in the zone. The ball’s coming out of his hand well. He’s spinning it well. I’ve had some good conversations with him. He looks really, really good.”

The No. 11 pick in the 2020 draft, Crochet worked out of the bullpen in his first two seasons. He was ready for an expanded role in 2022 and looked sharp in spring training before suffering the setback.

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“He’s been really impressive and he’s bigger than I thought he was,” Grifol said. “He’s a monster (6-foot-6, 230 pounds). He looks really good, strong.”

Crochet made an impact for the Sox the year he was drafted, allowing three hits and striking out eight over six innings in five games after joining the big-league club down the stretch in 2020. He had a 2.82 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 54 relief appearances in 2021.

Grifol knows Crochet will provide a boost whenever he returns.

“You’re looking at adding another high-leverage pitcher to the bullpen,” Grifol said. “And God willing, you add Liam (Hendriks, the closer who announced in January he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma) and you add Crochet. That’s something to look forward to if you’re sitting in this chair, adding two big-time leverage guys to your club.”

After the time away, Crochet’s anticipation extends beyond the field.

“(I’m) really just looking forward to being in the clubhouse again,” he said.