Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet pulled himself out of the 2025 MLB All-Star Game to keep his arm fresh for the second half of the season.
Crochet earned his second straight All-Star nod amid a Cy Young-caliber campaign, but at an MLB-leading 120.1 innings pitched this season, the left-hander is already 25.2 innings away from matching his career-high. The 26-year-old left-hander understandably doesn’t want to add to that hefty workload during an exhibition.
“For me, it’s just looking at my past four years,” Crochet said, per MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. “In 2022, I threw zero innings. In ‘23, I threw 13. Last year, I threw 146 and this year I’m on pace for 200. From my standpoint, it makes no sense to make that 201 to throw in a game that doesn’t determine my team’s fate throughout the season.
“Especially because we’re looking at the postseason. If I threw 20 innings in the postseason, I’m almost 100 innings over last year which was over 100 innings above the year prior. It just didn’t make sense to me.”
The Red Sox’ schedule also didn’t help Crochet’s cause. Crochet is set to start Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, so he’d head into the All-Star Game on only three days rest.
Crochet pitched a scoreless fourth inning while representing the Chicago White Sox at the 2024 All-Star Game. This time, he’ll watch from the dugout alongside teammates Alex Bregman, who also won’t play as he returned from a quad injury on Friday.
“It’s a huge honor to be there,“ Crochet added. ”I threw last year with it being my first one. If I were to go next year, I would probably throw. But just with the way my continued growth is, and my workload ceiling, I’d rather not add to it.”
With Crochet and Bregman sitting out, veteran closer Aroldis Chapman will be Boston’s lone representative in Atlanta. Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize will replace Crochet on the American League roster.
The 2025 MLB All-Star Game is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 15.
