Former Tennessee pitcher Garrett Crochet was named the American League Comeback Player of the Year on Thursday night.
Crochet excelled in his first season as a starting pitcher with the Chicago White Sox after returning from Tommy John surgery. The hard-throwing lefthander started 32 games for the Sox in 2024, posting a 3.58 ERA and 209 strikeouts in 146.0 innings pitched.
Crochet’s 209 punchouts ranked fourth in the American League and seventh in all of Major League Baseball. He stuck out 35.1% of opposing batters he faced on the year and earned his first-career MLB All-Star selection.
Prior to becoming a full-time starter, Crochet posted a 2.71 ERA over three seasons as a reliever for Chicago.
The Comeback Player of the Year Award has been given annually by MLB since 2005 to one player in each league “who has re-emerged on the field during the season.” The winners are determined following a vote by the 30 club beat reporters from MLB.com.
During his three years at Tennessee, Crochet developed into one of the top arms in college baseball and was tabbed a preseason All-American by Baseball America and Perfect Game prior to the 2020 season before being selected with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.
“Garrett not only deserves the Comeback Player of the Year but also embodies the concept it represents,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said. “He has been getting back up off the mat since his high school career. It’s no coincidence that the progression he made from his freshman year through his junior year at Tennessee coincided with the improvement of our program. Because of players like him, some of our best moments have been when we are down with our backs against the wall. We are all elated to see him honored with an award that his peers genuinely value.”
The Mississippi native became the first player from the 2020 MLB Draft class to be promoted to the major leagues. He was just the 22nd player to go straight from the draft to the majors without playing in the minor leagues, and the first since Mike Leake in 2010.
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