Started by former White Sox farmhand Ben Brewster, Tread Athletics is a prominent baseball training facility boasting a litany of professional clients, including All-Star pitchers Josh Hader and Mitch Keller.
For the last three years, it also has been Sox reliever Declan Cronin’s employer.
Back in 2018, Tread was a “pretty small” operation, and Cronin was an unheralded college pitcher at Holy Cross who trained with them via remote sessions. When the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the minor-league season, a side gig was sounding like a good idea to Cronin, and remote baseball training was about to get extremely popular.
“They were getting a large volume of inquiries and adding athletes so quickly just because everyone’s doing at-home training,” Cronin said. “They’re like, ‘Right now, we just need someone to handle emails and phone calls.’ ”
Even as a big-leaguer, Cronin is still logging into the company email every morning and knocking out administrative work, and the 25-year-old right-hander has witnessed an industry transformation. Players seeking out private coaching has gone from being read as stepping on the toes of their team — especially in their early developmental years — to standard practice.
“It’s now OK to admit that you don’t have all the answers,” Cronin said. “You don’t have control of your players year-round, and organizations are trusting Tread with their pitchers and prospects. It’s been really cool to see and definitely is moving the game in a positive direction.”
It also has moved Cronin’s game in a positive direction. He was throwing at Tread’s facility in Charlotte when the company first identified that the Trackman data on a sinker he was toying with stood out. When Tread presented its findings to the Sox, it launched a conversion of Cronin’s arsenal that has seen him rise to the majors.
“I shared that with the White Sox, and they were obviously incredibly on board, but I don’t think it was on their radar to have me throw a sinker,” Cronin said. “Without [Tread], who knows where I am right now?”
Robert sits out
After three days of being described as “day-to-day” with a sprained right pinkie finger, All-Star center fielder Luis Robert Jr. wound up missing the home sweep at the hands of the Brewers, outside of a 10th-inning pinch-running appearance Friday.
“He’s got that two-handed swing, so at the very end, right in there, is when it pinches a little bit still,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “But he’s way better. We’re hoping for Tuesday.”
Lee remains in Charlotte
After catching prospect Korey Lee was acquired from the Astros in a trade for Kendall Graveman, Grifol said he would play for the Sox this season. But even with Seby Zavala on the injured list, Lee remains at Triple-A Charlotte while pending free agent Yasmani Grandal has gotten the bulk of the starts behind the plate since the trade deadline.
Grifol says Lee is still searching for his timing offensively after an oblique injury.
“The rhythm is just not completely there,” Grifol said. “He’s getting really close. I’m assuming we’ll see him here pretty soon.”
Entering Sunday, Lee had gone 7-for-28 with no walks, no extra-base hits and 10 strikeouts since joining the Sox’ organization.
