The Boston Red Sox are a team to watch out for heading into 2025. They weren’t expected to do a whole lot this past season, and ended up with an 81-81 record, good for third in the tough American League East. They finished 13 games back of the New York Yankees in the division, but the Bombers just lost a generational talent in Juan Soto, so there is a chance they start falling back to earth as their aging roster, well, ages.
Over the weekend, the Red Sox made a huge statement in acquiring one of the best pitchers in 2024, and the ace of the 121-loss Chicago White Sox, Garrett Crochet. The 6-foot-6 left-hander held a 3.58 ERA in his first year as a starting pitcher, and tallied an impressive 146 innings for a former reliever. His previous high in innings had been 54 1/3, as a relief pitcher, back in 2021. He then missed the 2022 season due to injury, and made it into just 13 games in 2023, totaling 12 2/3 innings.
Crochet was the target of a number of teams, both at the Trade Deadline, and this offseason. The Red Sox got him.
In order to acquire him, Boston had to part with some pretty good prospects, including last year’s first-round draft pick, catcher Kyle Teel, who was the No. 14 overall pick in 2023. The co-headliner of the deal was none other than former Stanford Cardinal prospect, Braden Montgomery, who arrived on campus in 2022, and in his sophomore season in ’23, he hit .336 with a .461 OBP and 17 home runs in 64 games as a 20 year old.
Following that breakout campaign, Montgomery transferred to Texas A&M, where he put up similar numbers, batting .322 with a .454 OBP, but he set a career high in homers with 27 in his junior year.
His season was cut short due to a broken right ankle, which caused him to fall just a touch in the Draft, to the Red Sox at No. 12. Montgomery did not play in any games as a pro with Boston due to the injury.
Now he is headed to the White Sox, who will have quite the rebuild on their hands, but the additions of Teel and Montgomery, along with Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez, will be a nice foundation for the Sox to build from.
Teel is ranked as Chicago’s No. 2 prospect, while Braden isn’t even the top Montgomery in the system, ranking No. 5 overall, right behind shortstop Colson Montgomery, a 2021 first-round pick. Braden still ranks as the No. 54 prospect in all of Baseball, which also means that the four guys ahead of him are also top-54 prospects. Chicago now has six total top-100 prospects after the trade.
