Garrett Crochet dealt with trade rumors for months, but it wasn’t until Wednesday that the Chicago White Sox finally moved the standout starting pitcher.
Crochet ended up landing with the Boston Red Sox, who gave up four prospects, including their last two first-round picks in Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery, to acquire the 25-year-old left-hander.
Crochet had been with the White Sox ever since they drafted him 11th overall in 2020. He had gone through a lot with the organization, jumping right from college to MLB, enduring Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2022 campaign and emerging as an All-Star starting pitcher this past season while Chicago lost an historic 121 games.
All those experiences made it hard for Crochet to say goodbye to the White Sox, but it didn’t dampen his eagerness to join his new team.
“There’s definitely a bittersweet feeling,” Crochet told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin on Thursday. “Feeling like the White Sox were the team that first believed in me. But I guess this game is such a business side of things that I’m just excited to be a Red Sox now.”
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Crochet started garnering interest during the middle of this past season as he tormented opposing batters with a lethal arsenal of pitches. The left-hander recorded 209 strikeouts in 146 innings to go along with a 3.58 ERA and a 1.096 WHIP.
Despite his performances on the mound and the fact he’s just entering his prime, Crochet told Merkin there were never any contract talks between him and the White Sox.
The White Sox ultimately decided to cash in on Crochet’s talent by acquiring some top-tier prospects from the Red Sox while Chicago is in the middle of a massive rebuild. Teel was the highest-rated of the bunch, ranking as Boston’s fourth-best prospect prior to the trade.
Crochet doesn’t hold any feelings of ill will toward the White Sox or general manager Chris Getz for how things turned out. In fact, he’s happy he and the White Sox both made out in the deal with Chicago getting a haul of prospects and Crochet going to a storied franchise steeped in baseball history.
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“Part of me, when rumors and everything started going around, I was just thinking, ‘Damn, Chris. You better get a pretty big package because I value myself pretty highly. I hope you are able to cash in,’” Crochet said. “I think he did pretty well. Selfishly thinking, he put me in a pretty good spot where I can go and have success.”