Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet just had an amazing start against the Athletics, after having the worst start of his career against the Cleveland Guardians. According to Crochet, the reason for his quick turnaround was thanks to an unexpected teammate.
In an a post-game interview, Crochet revealed catcher Connor Wong was the teammate that helped get him back on track before the game with the A’s.
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“Big credit to [Connor] Wong. A couple days ago I was talking to him, I was kinda searching, just hadn’t been locating the four-seam [fastball] glove-side, and he kinda got me on practicing the front hip, glove-side sinker to make sure I’m fully getting extended on the pitch, and it got my four-seam back dialed in,” Crochet said.
Crochet is not the only person Wong has helped either. He’s one of the main reasons Aroldis Chapman is having a legendary season, as Wong was the first person to get Chapman to locate his pitches. Using pitch-com, Wong told Chapman the general area to throw, and the rest is history.
Finally, Wong has become the personal catcher of the rising ace, Brayan Bello. Since doing that, Bello is having his breakout season. He now has a record of 11-6 with a 3.12 ERA, 114 strikeouts, a WHIP of 1.212 in 152 innings pitched.
Hopefully Wong can get his own stats up, as if he can do that, the overall value he brings to the Red Sox could be indispensable.
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