Did the Red Sox’s 2026 Opening Day Starter Just Get Better?
Garrett Crochet, the reigning Cy Young finalist, is again poised to be the Red Sox’s best pitcher and might have gotten even better this offseason. Last year, Crochet led the league in strikeouts with 255, and his primary weapon of choice was his stunning fastball. His least utilized pitch was his serviceable, but comparatively underwhelming, changeup. There has been a shakeup to his arsenal, however, as reported from the first days of Spring Training. The two-time all-star pitcher has been working with his changeup over the course of the offseason, and apparently, the pitch has morphed into more of a splitter. This is a potentially thrilling piece of news for Crochet, as an additional offspeed tool could give him a real boost. A boost might seem a silly suggestion; he is already slated to be the ace in a now-stacked Boston rotation full of talent, young and old. At the two-time all-star pitcher’s level, though, the boost could see him rise to the top of Cy Young voting and announce himself as 2026’s best American League pitcher.
Crochet’s changeup only accounted for four percent of his pitches thrown in 2025. Again, it is not as if he needed it to be stronger; he has proven himself to be one of baseball’s most elite starters. Nevertheless, even the best in the business must search for growth opportunities. If there is any growth the two-time all-star pitcher to be had, it is in how he utilizes offspeed pitches and attacks right-handed hitters. The big southpaw fares a little better against left-handers, holding them to a slugging percentage of .262 compared to the .374 mark achieved by righties. A slight skew like this is, of course, commonplace amongst lefty pitchers; those are just the physics of the game. A splitter, however, offers a new way to attack righties that could be quite advantageous to the Sox’s strikeout machine.
A splitter’s function is not much different from a changeup’s; the slowed speed of both is the primary means of confusing the batter. A pitcher’s grip on a changeup, though, can cause the ball to move horizontally in the direction of his arm. This movement can be effective, but also, in the wrong circumstances, makes the pitch easier to understand and exploit. A splitter does not often share this characteristic. It looks just like a fastball at first, until the bottom drops out and the hitter swings far over where he should. It is a type of deception that is fitting for Crochet. His delivery on the mound starts with a high kick, sharp upward movement with a straight leg. He slows for just a moment as he bends his knee, then explodes again, towards the plate, with pitches that often creep toward triple-digit speeds. That big kick, already iconic amongst Red Sox fans, is almost a first tentative attack, a shark sniffing for blood before striking. It evokes a killer persona; it is less that he tries for strikeouts and more that he hunts for strikeouts. A splitter is thrown a little harder, a little nastier, a little meaner than a changeup. A new tool like that is fitting proof that the man is ready for even better hunting in 2026.
