Enjoy White Sox' Crochet-Fedde tandem while you can
Erick Fedde probably has Garret Crochet to blame for not being an All-Star. Fedde has pitched like one of the best, and most consistent starters in the majors in his first season, but was overshadowed by Crochet and rightfully saw Crochet named as the Sox’ lone representative for Tuesday’s mid-summer classic.
Entering his start against the Twins in Game 1 of a doubleheader Wednesday, Fedde was 6-3 with a 3.13 ERA, ranking 10th in AL ERA, one notch behind Crochet at 3.02. He lowered the ERA to 2.99 with five scoreless innings, exiting with a 1-0 lead.
At 3.9 wins above replacement entering Wednesday per Baseball Reference, the Sox have the fourth and fifth best starters in the American League, a remarkable thing for a team with the historically bad record of 26-67.
But this 1-2 punch, which reminds of when Chris Sale and Jose Quintana were topping Sox rotations on bad teams in 2013-16, won’t continue. At 105 1/3 innings, Crochet will be traded before the trade deadline or see his workload reduced in his first year as a starter and Fedde, a valuable chip with a year and a half left on a contract paying him $7.5 million this season and next, seems all but certain to be traded.
After Fedde followed a lackluster start to his career with the Nationals, he resurrected it in 2023 in the Korean League, where he was named Pitcher of the Year last season. General manager Chris Getz made one of the better signings of the offseason, confident Fedde would bolster the rotation and possibly be flipped at the deadline.
“The reports that we got from Korea last year were spot on who Erick Fedde is,” manager Pedro Grifol said Wednesday. “Consistent, [has] weapons, competitor, keeps you in ballgames, gives you a chance to win, great makeup, durable. You name it, that’s what he’s brought to the table for us."
Fedde had a rocky beginning to his start against the Twins, loading the bases on two walks and a single, but escaped a bases loaded jam. He used up 35 pitches in the first, then added four more scoreless innings.
Paul DeJong scored Gavin Sheets with a sacrifice fly in the fifth and Luis Robert Jr. hit a two-run homer in the sixth.
Michael Kopech recorded his ninth save by striking out the side on nine pitches.
Fedde has been "as consistent as anybody in baseball," Grifol said. "He goes out there, and [if] he has one bad inning early in the game, he’s standing out there on the mound in the sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth, like he has all first half. He’s been pretty good for us.”
Fedde was 6-3 with 2.95 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 80 strikeouts in his last 15 starts, and 4-1 with a 1.64 ERA in seven starts at home before Wednesday. His start against the Twins was his last before the All-Star break, which begins Monday.
He ranked eighth in ground ball percentage (46.9), 11th in home runs per nine innings (0.93) and 13th in on-base percentage (.280).
He beat the Guardians last Wednesday in his last start, allowing one run in six innings without having his best stuff.
After that game, he talked about the trade rumors he is taking in stride.
“It’s surrounding the team,” he said. “It’s just something that is talked about constantly, so it’s kind of hard to avoid it. But in the reality of it, I’ve been trying to say this since the first time I asked about it, start pitching bad those things go away quickly.
“So I’m worrying about one start at a time. I love it here, I’ve been happy here. But, you know, I’m just going to do what I do and whatever happens, happens.”