Jonathon Crawford started the All-Star Classic on the mound for the East. Victoria Walenga/The Pit
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen you’re a first-round draft pick for the Detroit Tigers, there’s going to be a lot of high expectations for you. From Justin Verlander to Kirk Gibson to Travis Fryman and Nick Castellanos, the Tigers have drafted a lot of all perennial all stars with their first-round selections. So when the Tigers drafted Jonathan Crawford with the 20th pick in the 2013 draft, they were hoping to add another name to that list.
Crawford is a big right-handed pitcher for the West Michigan Whitecaps, a minor league affiliate of the Tigers. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, his repertoire includes a fastball that sits around 90-93 but tops out in the mid to upper 90s. He also has a plus slider and a decent change. It was because of his pitching arsenal that he was arguably the best pitcher at the University of Florida when he was drafted.
Before he was drafted by the Tigers and before he ever pitched for the University of Florida, he was actually recruited by several colleges to be an outfielder instead of a pitcher. For Crawford, the decision was simple.
“Ever since I could pitch, I’ve been pitching. I’ve always been better at pitching,” Crawford said.
The decision worked out well for Crawford, who quickly turned into one of the best pitchers in college. When Crawford was selected 20th overall in the draft, it was the highest a pitcher at the University of Florida had been selected since John Burke was taken with the sixth overall pick by the Houston Astros in 1991. Besides both being drafted in the first round, Crawford and Burke have something else in common.
In the opening round of the 2012 NCAA tournament, Crawford pitched a no hitter against Bethune-Cookman in an opening-round game of the Gainsville Regional. It was the first time a Gator pitched a complete-game no-hitter since Burke did it against Furman on May 21, 1991. The last no-hitter by UF was a collaborative effort on March 19, 1993 when Doug Brennan and Chris Nelson worked together to no-hit Pace.
Not only has Crawford been good at getting batters out, but he’s also involved in doing charity work. In fact, he shaved his head in the offseason to raise money for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
“My agent, he is on the board there in Tampa so he did a little fundraiser and asked me to shave my head and I said yeah,” Crawford said about his experience. “Part of the whole deal was I had to post about it on Twitter and Facebook and try to get some sponsors and raise some money.”
Although sometimes players struggle when it comes to the pressures of being a prospect, it’s not something that Crawford spends a lot of time thinking about. Despite being ranked the number 6 prospect in the Tigers’ system by Baseball America before the season began, it’s just business as usual for the Whitecaps’ pitcher.
“I try to just put it to the side and not really pay attention to it,” Crawford said about the pressures of being a top prospect. “If you get caught up in all of that, you’re taking your focus away from the game. I want to go out there and play the game every day.”
But even with a great deal of talent, Crawford is no different from other minor league baseball players in that even he has some room for improvement. Being his first full season of professional baseball, Crawford has some things that he’s making a focus to improve on throughout the year.
“Just throwing more strikes and being more consistent in the strike zone. Not walking as many guys, it’s kind of been a problem my whole career,” Crawford said of his past struggles with his command. “Just jump ahead of guys and try to get that out on the first or second pitch rather than going five or six pitches an at bat.”
So far things have been working for Crawford, who was recently announced to be the starting pitcher for the Eastern Division team at the 2014 Midwest League All-Star Classic. Crawford is 3-2 with a 2.58 ERA while striking out 48 batters in 59.1 innings. Opponents are hitting just .217 against Crawford so far this year. After a rough debut to start the year, Crawford has allowed two runs or less in nine of his last 10 starts while posting a 1.58 ERA over that stretch.
Although fans might know him by his performances on the mound, The Pit had the opportunity to chat with Crawford earlier in the year to talk not only about his transition from college to professional baseball, but also a chance to get to know the real Jonathon Crawford.
