Top star was a Cy Young Award finalist in 2025 with the Chicago White Sox, and as he aims to outperform Tarik Skubal this season, he also has a chance to make MLB history. Paul “Hembo” Hembekides, speaking on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight podcast with Buster Olney, suggested that he could become the first pitcher ever to strike out 40% or more of all batters faced.
“I think it might be the best stuff on the planet,” Hembekides said. “Among 126 pitchers who threw at least 100 innings, he ranked first in Stuff+, which evaluates the physical characteristics of every pitch. Additionally, he led all pitchers in generating swings and misses in the zone, a metric scouts consider even more predictive than chase rate.”
In 2024, Crochet struck out 35.1% of batters, meaning he would need to improve slightly to reach the historic 40% mark. At just 25 years old, he has the upside to make that leap. The closest any pitcher has come to the milestone was Gerrit Cole, who struck out 39.9% of hitters in 2019 with the Astros—when he was 28, four years older than Crochet is now.
While FanGraphs currently projects no pitcher to exceed a 33% strikeout rate, projections don’t always tell the whole story. Crochet faced 595 batters in 2024 and averaged 4.56 innings per start. If he improves his efficiency and pitches deeper into games, he could put himself in position to make history.