Max Fried, Aaron Boone Gas Up Garrett Crochet Before Red Sox-Yankees
Like everyone who’s watched Garrett Crochet pitch this year, Max Fried has been blown away by Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet.
Fried, an ace in his own right, will face Crochet on Tuesday when the New York Yankees host Boston for Game 1 of their Wild Card Series. And the star lefty heaped praise on his opponent during Monday’s media availability at Yankee Stadium.
“The stuff is off the charts,” Fried told reporters on Monday. “He posts, he led the American League in innings and led baseball in strikeouts. So you’ve got big stuff and a guy that wants to take the ball. He’s had a tremendous year. You know that he’s going to be coming out ready to go.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone has been similarly impressed with Crochet, whom the Red Sox acquired last offseason via trade with the Chicago White Sox.
“He’s turned in for them,” Boone said Monday, via MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “He’s clearly become their ace and their horse. And from what I understand, been phenomenal behind the scenes, too.”
Boone added: “His size and deception that he creates. If you throw a silhouette up there, there’s no confusing who it is. With also having great stuff, there’s really good deception in there that allows that stuff to really play, and then the ability to put the ball where he wants. Obviously, he gets a lot of chase too. The ability to first and foremost, be a strike thrower with that stuff, with that deception, puts him in a pretty good place.”
Crochet this season posted an 18-5 record with a 2.59 ERA and 1.028 WHIP while leading the American League in strikeouts (255) and innings (250 1/3). Fried, New York’s top offseason signing, went 19-5 with 189 strikeouts, a 2.86 ERA and a 1.101 WHIP.
First pitch between the Red Sox and Yankees is scheduled for 6:08 p.m. ET on Tuesday.