The Red Sox aren’t taking this offseason off.
On Wednesday, Boston matched New York’s free-agency acquisition of starting pitcher Max Fried by landing its own talented pitcher, former White Sox starter Garrett Crochet.
After last offseason, that’s a welcome development in Beantown.
In 2024, Crochet went 6-12 with a 3.58 earned run average (ERA) in 32 starts. Crochet had 209 strikeouts while issuing only 33 walks in 146 innings pitched.
One of the only bright spots on Chicago’s historically awful 2024 team, the lefty has one of the league’s most dominant fastballs.
Per Baseball Savant, Crochet ranked in the 98th percentile in fastball run value and had an average fastball velocity of 97.2 mph.
His chase rate (33.5 percent) and whiff rate (33.1 percent) were among the best in the majors, as was his 35.1 percent strikeout rate.
In adding Crochet, the Red Sox traded multiple prospects — including catcher Kyle Teel, outfielder Braden Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth and right-handed pitcher Wikelman Gonzalez — to the White Sox, per MLB insider Ken Rosenthal.
