By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Seven years ago, Garrett Crochet was fresh off wrapping up his prep baseball career at Ocean Springs High School and looking forward to beginning his collegiate career at the University of Tennessee.
On Tuesday night, he’ll be announced as a member of the American League team at the 94th annual Major League Baseball All-Star game.
Crochet has enjoyed a breakout season in his new role as a starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. He leads the Majors in strikeouts with 150 K’s, despite throwing just two innings in his final outing before the All-Star break. In fact, he tops MLB in total strikeouts in just 107 innings of work, which is the least total of innings thrown among the top seven pitchers in that category.
Crochet played for head coach Brian Rea at OSHS from 2015-2017. Rea, now the head baseball coach at Nettleton High, knew there was something special about the then lanky southpaw.
“The thing that always stood out about Garrett as a high school player was he had great work ethic,” Rea said, in an interview with SouthMiss6 Sports. “And then as you saw his physical makeup continue to change toward the end of his high school career and while at Tennessee and then his arm strength and velo numbers just continued to climb, you could tell he was gonna have a chance to be a big leaguer at that point.”

Crochet not only put on some weight and grew stronger during his time in Knoxville but he sprouted a few inches as well and the 6-foot-6 standout compiled a 10-9 record with a 4.64 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 132 innings over three seasons.
Early in his collegiate career, Crochet struggled somewhat with control, but some adjustments to his mechanics, coupled with the addition of the slider, began to grab MLB scout’s attention and he was taken by the Chicago White Sox as the 11th overall selection in the MLB Amateur Draft in June of 2020.
Crochet signed with the White Sox and was elevated to the big leagues later that same year. He spent his first two years as a reliever before missing the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery. He then bounced back to see limited action out of the bullpen last season before becoming one of the best starting pitchers in the game this season.

“I don’t think I could have predicted this,” Rea added. “I knew he hadn’t hit his ceiling yet in high school, but to overcome the arm surgery and come back better than ever and now you can tell he’s learned how to get big league hitters out, his ceiling continues to get higher and I believe this is just the beginning of more great things to come for Garrett.”
Now, when the top players from the American League square off against the best of the National League in the prestigious Midsummer Classic, Crochet will be in that number.
“We’re all very happy for him,” Rea concluded. “We couldn’t be more proud of what he has accomplished.”