The dip in Garrett Crochet's fastball velocity was a problem after all.
The White Sox placed Crochet on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation this afternoon, five days after his last appearance, when he threw just 11 of 22 pitches for strikes and experienced a major drop in his radar-gun readings. It was a steep enough decline that one of his fastballs registered as a changeup.
Given the usual issues pitchers face in harnessing command after a UCL repair and Crochet's own brief, up-and-down track record, it was hard to tell whether the inconsistencies were for acceptable or worrisome reasons, but it seems like Crochet didn't respond well to his most aggressive deployment since returning from Tommy John surgery, as he threw 35 pitches over two innings two days before.
Crochet had been mostly limited to lower-leverage outings, as the White Sox lost nine of the 10 games in which he appeared, so his injury won't have a huge impact on Pedro Grifol's late-and-close calculus right now. His absence, should it be a protracted one, is a bigger problem for the big picture. He and Liam Hendriks were supposed to represent the team's best hope for midseason upside from within, but both feel-good stories aren't feeling so hot right now.
Jimmy Lambert has been reinstated from the IL to take his place, although Lambert experienced his own command issues while rehabbing his ankle injury in Charlotte. He had two clean outings sandwiched by two ugly ones, but then again, the Sox don't have a lot of options. With Davis Martin recovering from Tommy John surgery and Sammy Peralta out of action in Charlotte, Lambert was the only active pitcher on the 40-man roster who wasn't already on the 26-man roster. That could change as soon as Wednesday.
White Sox claim Touki Toussaint
Shortly after the White Sox posted the injury to Crochet and the reinstatement of Lambert, they also announced that they claimed Touki Touissaint off waivers from the Cleveland Guardians, and on his 27th birthday, no less.
Toussaint has appeared in 58 games over six years, split between the rotation and bullpen (24 starts). He has a 5.33 ERA with 183 strikeouts over 174 innings, but control has been his bugaboo. He's walked 109 batters over 174 innings, including 24 over his last 29 innings spanning the last two years.
He was a first-round pick of the Diamondbacks back out of high school in 2014, although he made his debut with the Braves after Arizona shipped him over to Atlanta in the confounding Dansby Swanson deal. He's since pitched with the Angels in 2022, and made his only appearance for Cleveland on Friday. He made a spot start in place of Triston McKenzie, walked five batters over 3⅔ innings, then was designated for assignment on Saturday.
Looking at Toussaint's Statcast data from Friday, he's averaging 93 mph with the fastball, but he threw his curveball more than any other pitch. He's had a variety of pitch mixes over the years, and none of them have seemed to stick
Toussaint had been a top-100 prospect at various points of his minor-league career, but unfortunately he doesn't add another name to the White Sox's current roster of 2017 top prospects. He made Baseball America's list before (2015, 2016) and afterwards (2017).
Speaking before tonight's game against the Rangers, Pedro Grifol said that Touissant could join the roster on Wednesday.
My guess is that he would replace Nick Padilla as a multi-inning reliever who could team up with Tanner Banks and/or Jesse Scholtens for bullpen games during Mike Clevinger's absence. The White Sox will have an off day on Thursday to line things up further.
