Kyle Crockett

Career

Crockett attended Poquoson High School in Poquoson, Virginia, and played for the school's baseball team as a teammate of Chad Pinder. In 2009 and 2010, Poquoson won consecutive AA Virginia High School League state championships. He had a 27–0 win‐loss record and was twice named Virginia's high school baseball player of the year.

Crockett enrolled at the University of Virginia, where he played college baseball for the Virginia Cavaliers baseball team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In three years at Virginia, Crockett had a 1.97 earned run average (ERA), and served as the team's closer in his junior year.

Before the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft, Baseball America rated Crockett as the 103rd best available prospect. The Cleveland Indians selected Crockett in the fourth round, with the 111th overall selection. He signed with Cleveland, forgoing his senior year at Virginia, for a $463,000 signing bonus.

Crockett began his professional career in June 2013 with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League. After pitching  9 ¹⁄₃ innings without allowing a run, he received a promotion to the Lake County Captains of the Class A Midwest League in July. The next month, after pitching in four games for Lake County, he was promoted to the Akron Aeros of the Class AA Eastern League. For the week ending September 3, Crockett was named the organization's minor league player of the week. Crockett pitched  10 ¹⁄₃ innings for Akron without allowing a run. Crockett only allowed one earned run in the 2013 season.

The Indians assigned Crockett to Akron to start the 2014 season. After pitching to a 0.57 ERA in 15 appearances, they promoted him to the major leagues on May 16. He was the first player from the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft to reach the major leagues.

Personal

Crockett's brother, Adam, also played for the Poquoson High School baseball team.