He’s probably going to be traded… but to the Red Sox?
Who is he and where does he come from?
He’s left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox. Crochet is 26 years old and under contract for the next two years. While he’s not guaranteed to move this offseason, he’s as available as any player under contract has ever been.
Is he any good?
Crochet struck out 35.1% of the batters he faced while walking just 5.5% of them. He’s 6’6”, 245 pounds, and left-handed. His fastball averages 97 MPH while touching 100 at times.
Seriously, his fastball is incredible. Its movement profile is pedestrian but it doesn’t matter. At 97 MPH with over seven feet of extension, hitters don’t stand a chance. The 16.6% swinging strike rate was among the best in the league for starting pitchers.
The fastball accounts for about half of his pitches, while his cutter is his go-to secondary. It pairs with the fastball nicely, looking just like the four-seamer out of his hand. Rather than staying up and fading to the arm side, the pitch cuts across the plate and drops about a foot more than the fastball. He can throw it both in and out of the zone.
Those two pitches are enough for Crochet to dominate, but he also has a pretty good sweeping slider. Oh, and in August he added a sinker that performed well in its limited usage. Crochet was great when he was throwing two fastballs that looked similar, adding a third could elevate him to a whole new level.
Tl;dr, just give me his 2024 stats.
32 G, 146.0 IP, 123 H, 33 BB, 209 K, 18 HR, 3.58 ERA, 35.1% K%, 5.5% BB%
Why would he be a good fit for the Red Sox?
See above. He’s a strike-throwing, whiff-generating machine. What’s not to like?
What’s not to like?
Despite my gushing in the previous section, there are some red flags. The main one is his lack of track record. Crochet has been effective throughout his career, but 2024 was his first year as a starter. On top of that, he only threw 146 innings over 32 starts. More specifically, he didn’t pitch into the fifth inning after the month of June. It wasn’t a lack of effectiveness that prevented him from reaching the fifth inning, but workload management.
Crochet has the body to handle a starter’s workload; he should be able to throw more in 2025. Still, trading for a pitcher to lead your rotation who hasn’t handled a full season’s workload does come with some risk.
What would he cost?
Head to Twitter and find one of the thousand mock trades that have been floated over there. Everybody wants to start the conversation with Wilyer Abreu, which makes sense given his years of control and the Red Sox’ relative surplus at the outfield positions. Past that, it’s hard to say. I see Kutter Crawford’s name floated a lot as well, but that doesn’t make a ton of sense for the White Sox competitive window. All I know is that trading for Crochet won’t be cheap, but that’s to be expected when trading for a 26-year-old ace.
Show me a cool highlight.
Here’s Crochet striking out seven straight Mets to start a game. Look at some of the swings these hitters are taking; they’re completely outmatched. It’s unfair.
Smash or Pass?
The thought of Garrett Crochet pitching for the 2025 Red Sox has me pounding on the table with my eyes bursting out of my head and my tongue rolling out of my mouth like a cartoon wolf.
AWOOGA. Smash.