A 1-4 start to the season can’t be what Chris Getz and Pedro Grifol had in mind for opening the 2024 White Sox season. After getting swept by the Detroit Tigers and splitting a modified two-game series with the Atlanta Braves, the Pale Hose will head to Kansas City, hoping to get back on track. Nick Murawski and Danny Miller broke down the first week of the season on the latest episode of Hot Takes and Heaters, and it does indeed look grim.
Although the White Sox lost on opening day, Garrett Crochet pitched well. He threw the ball with poise and confidence, and his moxie on the mound was evident. Crochet had swing-and-miss stuff all day, topping out at 99.8 mph. The offense did not provide any support for Garrett. Tigers pitching had their way with the White Sox bats all day. Eleven total punch-outs versus no walks. Tigers pitchers faced three batters over the minimum, and did not let anyone reach second base. This is unfortunately going to likely be a trend throughout the season. We are only five games in, and the arrow is pointed in that direction.
White Sox Takeaways
The pitching has mostly limited the opposing offense, but will the White Sox offense provide run support and win those tight one or two run ball games? Braden Shewmake and Luis Robert Jr. provided most of the offense for the Sox in the opening series. Shewmake chipped in with a HR, his first MLB hit. Luis Robert Jr. had two homers at the plate against Kenta Maeda. He homered in back-to-back at-bats, and it was a natural growth moment for Luis Robert Jr. He was selective at the plate in hitting his pitch—not the pitcher’s pitch but the pitch he liked.
In those two at-bats, he saw a total of eighteen pitches! As mentioned with Crochet earlier, this season is going to be a lot about growth from individual players, and those two at-bats from Luis Robert Jr. show that he is fully capable of being a great hitter in the big leagues. On Sunday, in the last game of the three game set, walks from the pitchers did it in. The bullpen got in trouble late and gave up the lead.
The Atlanta Braves came into town, and the Sox split a two-game series. The first game of the series was brutal to say the least. The Braves were doing Braves’ things, hitting the ball all around the yard. Austin Riley tallied four RBIs in the contest. That was one of those games that you just “flush” and move on to the next day.
In game two, the Sox found their first win behind another dominant performance from Garrett Crochet, with seven innings of one-run baseball. He had a very good Braves line up tied up in knots. Although the Sox won 3-2 behind great pitching, the Sox plate appearances left more to be desired. Reynaldo Lopez had his way with Sox bats with five strikeouts in six innings. The Sox did muster one run off him but the swings and the at-bats were just not there. It felt like a game the Braves lost rather than a win for the Sox.
Garrett Crochet’s Dominance for White Sox
Crochet has been phenomenal in two starts as a starter. Six innings on Opening Day and a seven inning gem five days later. The season won’t be all sunshine and roses but his two starts have been outstanding. According to Thomas Nestico (@TJStats on twitter) Crochet had 8K’s and 18 whiffs. Crochet used all four pitches (FB, SL, CH, and, FC) to silence the Braves. He used his fastball 56% of the time with compliments from his slider at 23%. Ace stuff from Crochet in the past two outings.
All in all, this season of White Sox baseball is shaping up to be like no other. As I mentioned before, I think personally this season will be about individual growth from players. It will definitely be fun to watch despite the overall team record. The two at-bat stretch from Luis Robert Jr. against the Tigers in game two of the series will stick out with me because those little things show what he is capable of this season.
Closing for the White Sox?
Michael Kopech has made a few late inning appearances to mixed results. In the last game of the Atlanta series he came out of the pen with shaky command, but the velocity was there and he worked out of a few jams to get the save and secure the first win of the season. He did so against the meat of the Braves’ line up.
My main takeaway from the first two series of the season is finding the silver lining. The Sox might not win too many games this year, but breaking down invidual performance and their overall growth, is what this season is unfortunately going to be about.