Crochet’s Cy Young Coronation: Red Sox Ace Sparks “Just Hand It Over” Frenzy
By Alden Gonzalez, MLB Reporter, ESPN Boston, MA – September 21, 2025
The Fenway Park faithful have a way of cutting through the noise, distilling a season’s worth of sweat and spin into a chant that rattles the rafters. On a balmy Saturday night, with the Green Monster casting long shadows under the September sun, they did it again for Garrett Crochet. As the 25-year-old lefty fanned the side in the eighth – his 12th strikeout of the evening against a punchless Blue Jays lineup – the bleachers erupted not with polite applause but a full-throated demand: “Just give him the Cy Young again!” It was equal parts plea and prophecy, a nod to the AL award he swiped last October as a White Sox rental and a dare to the voters who might as well start engraving his name on the hardware now. Crochet, tipping his cap with a sheepish grin, jogged off the mound to a standing ovation that felt like coronation. In a playoff-chasing September, Boston’s prize acquisition isn’t just dominating – he’s dictating the narrative.
Acquired in a July fire sale that sent Chicago’s top prospects packing, Crochet has been the Red Sox’s secret sauce, a 6-foot-6 flamethrower who blends mid-90s heat with a slider that dives like a disappointed fan’s expectations. Through 180 innings, his stat line reads like a video game glitch: 1.98 ERA, 210 strikeouts, 0.92 WHIP, holding opponents to a .198 average. He’s won 15 straight decisions without a blemish, his last loss a distant memory from May in Guaranteed Rate Field. Opponents whiff on 38 percent of swings against him, the highest rate in the majors, and he’s surrendered just seven homers all year – fewer than some relievers. “He’s not human,” Blue Jays skipper John Schneider muttered postgame, rubbing his temples after Toronto mustered three hits in a 4-1 snoozer. “That slider? It’s unhittable. We’re talking prime Maddux territory here.”
The Maddux comp isn’t hyperbole. Crochet’s second straight Cy Young bid evokes the Braves icon’s ’90s reign, when he claimed four straight awards with surgical precision rather than sheer velocity. But where Maddux was a chess master, Crochet is a wrecking ball – his fastball averages 97 mph, peaking at 101, and he’s leaned on it for 55 percent of pitches without the velocity dip that plagues so many power arms. Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who watched from the dugout with a mix of awe and superstition, called it “the best stretch I’ve seen since Pedro in ’99.” That pedigree matters in Boston, where Martinez’s ’99 mound mastery remains the gold standard. Crochet, a former first-round pick sidelined by Tommy John in 2022, has silenced doubters with workload management wizardry: Biweekly bullpen sessions and a pitch-count cap hovering at 100 have kept his arm fresh, even as he logs ace innings in a contract year.
Yet for all the gaudy numbers, the real buzz swirls around Boston’s championship blueprint. The Sox sit 88-70, a half-game up on the wild-card scrum with the Yankees and Mariners nipping at their heels. Crochet anchors a rotation fortified by Walker Buehler’s postseason pedigree – the ex-Dodger tossed a shutout last week – and the everyday thunder of Alex Bregman’s .295 clip with 25 homers. The dream? A wire-to-wire wild-card romp at Fenway, where Crochet starts Game 1 against New York, his slider feasting on Judge and Soto like it did in a simulated spring matchup. Then ALDS against Houston, Bregman’s old haunt, with Buehler closing out Valdez in a revenge series. ALCS versus Seattle’s staff aces, Crochet outdueling Castillo in a pitcher’s duel that echoes ’04’s grit. World Series glory, naturally, against the NL’s best – say, the Phillies – with Boston’s band of castoffs hoisting the trophy under October lights.
Skeptics, though, smell the setup for heartbreak. Young aces like Crochet carry injury baggage; his ’22 surgery lingers like a ghost, and whispers of shoulder fatigue surfaced after a labored August start. The bullpen, for all its Jansen saves, has blown 12 late leads, and Bregman’s hamstring tweak last weekend tested the depth. FanGraphs pegs Boston’s Series odds at 18 percent – respectable, but no lock – and a one-game playoff loss to Baltimore would sting like the ’23 flameout. “He’s Cy Young material, no doubt,” Bregman said, slapping Crochet’s back in the clubhouse. “But awards are paper. Rings are forever.” Cora, ever the pragmatist, preaches process: “Garrett’s our ace, but October’s a team sport. We stay healthy, we swing the bats – that’s the script.”
As the chant echoed into the night – “Just give him the Cy Young again!” – it felt like more than fandom’s folly. In a city weaned on curses and comebacks, Crochet represents possibility unbound: a lefty from the South Side reborn in Beantown, turning deficits into dominance. Voters will deliberate come November, weighing his peripherals against Tarik Skubal’s Tigers surge or Paul Skenes’ rookie blaze. But in Boston, where statues honor the unbreakable, the verdict’s already in. Crochet isn’t chasing hardware; he’s crafting legacy. Hand him the Cy Young? Hell, in Fenway’s fever, they’re ready to rename it after him.
Leave a Reply