It's been a shocking start to the season for Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet, and according to at least one major league executive, there is plenty of cause for concern.
After the additions of Ranger Suarez in free agency and Sonny Gray via trade, the 2026 Boston Red Sox were a team built on run prevention. Yet, their highly-touted rotation has struggled mightily out of the gate, especially ace Garrett Crochet. Despite insistence that he's okay from Crochet and the Red Sox, at least one major league executive thinks there is some cause for concern with Boston's ace.
Crochet is coming off a dominant 2025 season, his first in Boston, reaching career- highs in both strikeouts and innings pitched, culminating in a second-place finish in American League Cy Young voting.
The 26-year-old lefty came into the 2026 season with sky-high expectations, expectations that, through the first five starts, he has fallen short of. In those five starts, Crochet has a 7.88 ERA, including the worst start of his career against the Minnesota Twins, allowing 11 runs (10 earned) in just 1.2 innings pitched.
In Sunday afternoon's loss to Detroit, Crochet looked his dominant self for the middle in three of the five innings he threw, but things unraveled for him in the fifth, as he allowed four runs in his final frame.
"Moving in the right direction for sure, but it's wins and losses, it's one or two, it sucks that I feel like I am moving in the right direction, and I also happened to lose the game for us," Crochet told the media after the loss, citing his inability to get ahead of batters as the main reason for his struggles.
Crochet and the Red Sox staff have been insistent that he is simply going through a rough stretch, battling command. At least one person in Major League Baseball isn't buying it. "Crochet’s velocity is a concern and definitely something to monitor,” one National League executive told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, "...people forget his MLB innings last year basically matched the prior three years combined, so it wouldn't be that surprising to see some fatigue this year,” he continued.
The NL exec is correct. Crochet's 205 innings pitched in 2025 are just 14 fewer than the 219 innings he logged in his first four seasons, and he has seen a dip in his velocity, losing half a mile per hour on both his fastball and sinker. But, when asked about the drop in velo after his disastrous start in Minnesota, he said: "I don't think that's anything to fret over."
Crochet has seen a similar drop off in Stuff+, the most severe coming on his sinker and cutter, which are both down 8% in 2026. Overall, the stuff has dropped to 112 (100 is league average), a 5% decrease from 2025.
Crochet's next chance to get back on track will be Saturday afternoon when the Red Sox take on the Baltimore Orioles. First pitch from Camden Yards set for 12:05 p.m. ET.
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