Pregame notes: Are Garrett Crochet’s struggles a fix away?

Garrett Crochet believes his recent struggles owe to an evaporation of his ability to locate his cutter to the glove side; a pressing problem since allowing him to dominate that side of the plate is its primary purpose in his arsenal.

From a mechanical standpoint, Crochet's crossfire delivery makes him funky and difficult to square up. But he's slowly drifted toward overdoing to the point that cutters once ticketed for the black of the plate on the glove side are now splitting the dish.

"We showed him his biomechanics," said pitching coach Ethan Katz. "He's crossfire but he's starting to lose his hinge at the top a little bit and pushing toward first base a little bit more than normal. Then we showed him his heat maps by month with his cutter and how it's gone from dominating the down and in quadrant [to righties] to now it's trickling into the away quadrant. It's a byproduct of how his mechanics are working."

In addition to working on the cutter in bullpens, Katz prescribed that Crochet throws more sweeping sliders in catch play, just to drive home the feeling of finishing his pitches toward the glove side. As with all things Crochet at this point of the season, whether fatigue and innings load are a factor is a constant question.

But as much Crochet already doesn't want to be broached with questions about his fatigue level every single day, the experience of coaching Carlos Rodón through the 2021 season is such that Katz doesn't want to make fatigue a self-fulfilling explanation to every ill either. So Friday night offers a test whether Crochet is still operating at a point where mechanical issues can be corrected on the fly.

The Sox made a rare swap of relievers between the active roster and 60-day IL, as Dominic Leone is sidelined for the rest of the season with a UCL sprain and Matt Foster was activated for his first major league action since 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery last spring.

Leone's season ends with a 6.63 ERA in 19 innings, fitting him smoothly alongside the rest of a Sox bullpen that has endured the fires of hell all year. But with the high-leverage section of the relief corps already decimated, the Sox coaching staff was counting on Leone to shoulder a larger load down the stretch, as the 32-year-old was a rare individual with any experience pitching at the back end of major league games.

While only recapturing the magic of 2020 in fits and starts since that 60-game season, Foster offers some scant experience of that variety. He had his TJ rehab paused due to back discomfort, but has struck out 13 and walked just two with a 3.24 ERA with the Knights in 8 1/3 innings since returning.

Because nothing gold can stay with the White Sox organization in 2024, Edgar Quero has been sidelined while I've been down here in Charlotte. The switch-hitting catcher says he's been dealing with a sore back, but hopes to return to the lineup by Sunday as a designated hitter, and resume catching games by next week.

Experience teaches us such a timeline is probably more ambitious than the team is planning for a 21-year-old future franchise catcher who is batting .313/.408/.506 in 23 games at Triple-A. But it's encouraging that he was taking part in team stretch, playing catch, and hasn't been placed on the IL, even if he was being held out of batting practice.

Mason Adams is also on the IL with a back issue, and while the team is just saying they'll be cautious with him right now, it's encouraging that he's still in Charlotte rather than back at the team complex.

First pitch: White Sox at Astros

TV: NBCSCH

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