Garrett Crochet Scouting Report: What Red Sox Getting In Lefty Ace

The Red Sox have presumably landed their Opening Day, top-of-the-rotation ace before the buzzer sounded on the 2024 MLB winter meetings.

The Sox reportedly struck a deal with the Chicago White Sox to bring left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet to Boston on Wednesday. According to reports, the Red Sox gave up a haul of four prospects including Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery, their two most recent first-round draft picks.

When you look at the landscape for pitching, especially on the free agent market, it made sense for Boston to pivot and the seemingly steep price might not look bad at all if Crochet can pitch to his potential.

The 25-year-old has just 219 career innings under his belt, but the Sox apparently saw enough from the 2020 first-round pick this past season to believe in his ability to be a top-flight starter for years to come. Crochet went 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA in 2024, striking out a ridiculous 209 batters in just 146 innings of work. Of all pitchers who logged at least 140 innings, no one struck out more per nine innings than Crochet.

So, what makes him so effective? He’s an extremely uncomfortable at-bat, throwing out of a 3/4 arm slot from the left side, hurling his 6-foot-6, 245-pound frame to home plate with ridiculous extension (in the 93rd percentile). It gets there in a hurry, too, with his fastball routinely approaching triple digits and sitting in the upper 90s.

2024 PITCH USAGE
Four-seam fastball: 53.7% (97.2 mph)
Cutter: 28.4% (91.6 mph)
Sweeper: 9.8% (84.2 mph)
Changeup: 5.9% (91 mph)

The sweeper was exceptionally difficult for opposing hitters to hit with Crochet generating a 42.7% whiff rate on the breaking pitch. Opposing hitters hit just .136 against the offering, and it will be interesting to see if the Red Sox’s pitching department — led by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and pitching coach Andrew Bailey — encourage him to throw the pitch more. Red Sox starter Tanner Houck threw more sweepers than any other pitcher in 2024, and it helped him have the best season of his career.

Then again, it might make sense to just continue to lean on that heavy four-seam fastball. Opposing hitters posted a .328 expected slugging percentage against Crochet’s heater, ranking him fifth among pitchers who logged 200 plate appearances in 2024, sandwiched between Phillies ace Aaron Nola and Pirates phenom Paul Skenes.

The Red Sox got a first-hand look at Crochet, twice in 2024. The first came on June 7 when Crochet allowed just one run over six innings while striking out 10 and walking a pair.

“I mean, the guy is a stud,” Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran told reporters after that game, per The Boston Globe. “I mean, he throws hard, big lefty, good pitches, and he was really good tonight.”

That won’t be the last time Duran or any of his Red Sox teammates rave about Crochet.