White Sox call up 2020 first-rounder Crochet

It didn't take long for the 2020 Draft to make an impact on Major League Baseball.

The White Sox are calling 2020 No. 11 overall pick Garrett Crochet up to the Majors, general manager Rick Hahn announced Friday. Crochet will be the first player from the 2020 Draft class to reach the game's highest level and the first drafted player since Mike Leake in 2010 to skip right over the Minors and make his professional debut in the Majors.

The news comes one day after the White Sox clinched their first postseason spot since 2008. At 33-17, the club holds a three-game lead over the Twins for the top spot in the American League Central and a half-game lead over the Rays for the No. 1 seed in the AL.

The 6-foot-6 left-hander out of the University of Tennessee has been working out of the club's alternate training site in Schaumburg, Illinois after signing for $4,547,500 back in June. There's a chance Crochet could have gone higher in the 2020 Draft, if not for shoulder soreness that held him out for the first three weeks of the NCAA season. He ended up making one start for the Volunteers as a junior, striking out six over 3 1/3 innings, before the campaign was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Crochet, who was also limited to 18 appearances (six starts) in his sophomore year by a dislocated jaw, has killer stuff. Speaking on this week's Minor League Baseball podcast, White Sox director of player development Chris Getz told MiLB.com that the southpaw was throwing in the upper 90s and hitting triple digits at times in Schaumburg. He also has a plus slider and an improving changeup. The development of those offerings not only make him MLB.com's No. 96 overall prospect but also helped the White Sox deem him Major League-ready before even playing in the Minors.

"He’s the guy that gets on the mound and starts throwing and you’re not walking out of the room if it’s on TV," Getz said on the podcast. "You’re not going to the bathroom. You don’t see stuff like this. You just don’t. Needless to say, we are fortunate to have him. He’s got a chance to be an impact arm"

Crochet will likely be used out of the bullpen initially. His ascension echos that of 2010 13th overall pick Chris Sale, who made 21 Major League appearances for the White Sox in the same year he was drafted out of Florida Gulf Coast University. Sale, however, got 11 games of Minor League action in first. Crochet's Major League debut will also mark his first pro outing anywhere.