South Side Sox Player of the Week (May 23-30): Garrett Crochet
The lefty remains one of the few things to enjoy on this season’s squad
With our resident artist — and the genesis and purpose of this weekly project — Mitch Ransdell pulled more often than ever in directions away from his easel and also launching fun new projects, you’ve seen we have a bit more sporadic posting of POTW and Mitch’s art. We’re not certain how that is going to change going forward, but we can hope for at least weekly updates on where our MVP races are heading; after all, they are based entirely on YOUR votes in the recap polls.
All that said, what more can we say about one of the only bright spots on the 2024 team, Garrett Crochet? Rather than shirk in the face of rapid advancement to ace of the staff (yes, one of a handful of pitchers ever to make his first major league start on Opening Day), Crochet has, rarely flagging, been The Man for the White Sox. Whether he or Erick Fedde ends up in Texas for the All-Star Game this year will probably come down to how their starts fall leading up to the game. Frankly, the White Sox will be looking to get Garrett rest from now until forever, because he simply isn’t stretched out to throw 150 innings this season; the team might put its thumb on the scale to keep him away from Arlington entirely, or at least sitting in the bullpen all game. But the fact that we are discussing a guy in Crochet who wasn’t even a starter, anywhere, until February as a likely AL All-Star is just jaw-dropping.
And as an unscientific but still-prescient measure of Crochet’s importance this year, the southpaw has won four of our weekly awards for the team.
The season is one-third over.
Wow.
2024 South Side Sox Players of the Week
Eloy Jiménez (February 23-March 2)
Eloy Jiménez (March 3-11)
Chuckie Robinson (March 12-19)
Michael Soroka (March 20-27)
Garrett Crochet (March 28-April 3)
Gavin Sheets (April 4-11)
The Fans (April 12-18)
Korey Lee (April 19-24)
Tommy Pham (April 25-May 2)
Garrett Crochet (May 3-8)
Garrett Crochet (May 9-16) (no post)
Corey Julks (May 17-22) (no post)
Garrett Crochet (May 23-30)
Top 10 MVP Standings
Garrett Crochet (75.9)
Erick Fedde (49.8)
Korey Lee (43.5)
Tommy Pham (36.0)
Fans (for keeping the noise up/getting bored and waving/who stayed/who froze/who had the strength to suffer through this/sat through rain delays) (27.6, 385 votes)
Chris Flexen (27.6, 315 votes)
Michael Kopech (18.5)
Gavin Sheets (17.3)
Michael Soroka (15.9)
Danny Mendick (12.5)
Top 10 Cold Cat Standings
Pedro Grifol (-78.3)
Andrew Benintendi (-35.1)
Martín Maldonaldo (-29.4)
The Entire Roster (-24.7)
Andrew Vaughn (-22.6)
Dominic Fletcher (-19.9)
Luis Robert Jr. (-16.7)
The Offense (-15.2)
Touki Toussaint (-14.7)
Yoán Moncada (-14.2, -108 votes)
John Brebbia (-14.2, -63 votes)
For the first time all year, or in at least a long while, the Cold Cat leader has more votes than the MVP — but that’s how much Pedro Grifol is despised by this fan base. Seems like as Tony La Russa and Rick Hahn went, so will go Grifol, as another non-player Cold Cat champ.
Writer Standings
An interesting note, beyond the fact that no writer here — even the innocent, one-recap writer Joe Resis — has even a .500 coverage record: Only 10 writers have covered games for us this season. That’s truly too bad, as we are used to more participation and an even greater diversity of voices. Oh, well, it’s more badness for our core writers Hannah, Ryiin, Leigh, Chrystal, Melissa and Di to contend with.
If you’re interested in seeing more of Mitch’s work, or if you’d like to purchase original drawings or prints, contact him via Twitter (@soxsketcher), Instagram (@southsidesharpie), or by e-mail at southsidesharpie@gmail.com. Thanks for supporting local artists!