The White Sox have traded Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for four of the club’s top 15 prospects.
According to Ken Rosenthal the White Sox will receive catcher Kyle Teel, outfielder Braden Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth, and right-hander Wikelman Gonzalez. Teel is the Red Sox third-ranked prospect and 25th overall in the MLB. Montgomery is the Red Sox fifth-ranked prospect and is considered the 54th overall in the MLB. Meidroth and Gonzalez were Boston’s 11th and 14th-ranked prospects. The White Sox now have six of MLB Pipeline’s Top 59 prospects in baseball.
Kyle Teel was the 14th overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft. He was considered one of the top high school catchers of the 2020 class but opted to attend Virginia instead of going pro. In 2023 he emerged as the best backstop in the country slashing .407/.475/.655
The 22-year-old catcher is now the centerpiece of the White Sox return for Crochet. After playing just 26 minor league games in 2023, Teel was promoted to Triple-A Worcester at the start of the 2024 season. He proceeded to hit .288 with a .819 OPS. He also belted 13 homers drove in 78 RBIs and stole 12 bases.
With the addition of Walker McKinven as bench coach, Teel will have an excellent opportunity to take his game to the next level. McKinven has been praised for his work developing catchers in Milwaukee, with the most notable example being William Contreras.
Montgomery has yet to play a game in the minor leagues, despite being selected 12th overall in last year’s draft. The 21-year-old broke his ankle at Texas A&M during the NCAA super regionals. Even with the injury, the Red Sox still gave him a $5 million signing bonus. Montgomery has a cannon in right field with 70-grade arm strength from scouts. He hit 35 homers in two years at Stanford, including 27 in 2023 before joining the Aggies.
Meidroth will have an opportunity to be the White Sox starting second baseman. In 2024 he hit .293 with a .837 OPS. He also drove in 57 RBIs, swiped 13 bases, and hit seven homers for Triple-A Worcester. Meidroth also showed excellent plate discipline, drawing 105 walks. The year before he walked 80 times split across High-A and Double-A. The 23-year-old infielder was selected with the Red Sox in the fourth round of the 2022 MLB draft. He owns a career .285 batting average and .425 on-base percentage in three minor league seasons.
Gonzalez owns a career 3.97 ERA in five seasons in the minor leagues. The 22-year-old has put on over 20 pounds since joining the Red Sox organization. Despite only being 145 pounds when the Red Sox signed him, scouts like his arm speed.
His fastball can touch 97 mph and is complimented by a sharp curveball that sits in the upper 70s. Gonzalez also has a slider and changeup, but his changeup struggled to draw many whiffs last season.
Last season he led the minor leagues with 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings and punched out 35 percent of the hitters he faced. However, he has run into some issues with control. In April he posted a 15.58 ERA after struggling with walks. In 111 1/3 innings of work, he surrendered 70 free passes. If he can clean up his command some scouts project Gonzlaz as a No. 2 starter in a big league rotation.
In Crochet, the Red Sox are landing an elite arm. Crochet quickly emerged as one of the most valuable pitchers available after just one season as a starter. Despite being on an innings restriction he ranked fourth in the AL with 209 strikeouts and posted a 3.58 ERA en route to the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
The 6’6 southpaw was under team control through 2026 and looked like a starter that the White Sox could build around moving forward. However, in late June USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the White Sox “quietly engaged in brief contract extension talks” with Crochet. But failing to reach an agreement the team no longer felt optimistic they would be able to extend him. After using the fifth overall pick in the draft on left-hander Hagen Smith, the writing was on the wall that Getz was trying to cash in on Crochet’s early success.
Crochet was excellent during his time with the White Sox. In four seasons on the South Side, he posted a career 3.29 ERA. During his rookie season, he made his MLB debut just weeks after being drafted in 2020. Despite having no time in the minor leagues due to the COVID pandemic, he did not allow a run in six innings and struck out eight of the 22 batters he faced. The following year he posted a 2.82 ERA in 54.1 innings as a reliever. He missed the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery then was limited to just 12.2 innings in 2023 due to injury.
After spending his first three years in the MLB coming out of the bullpen, the White Sox named Crochet their Opening Day starter in 2024. He found early success, twirling a gem during his first career start against the Tigers on Opening Day, and quickly emerged as the team’s ace. Crochet’s 64 strikeouts over his first nine starts surpassed Chris Sale’s franchise record of 60 in 2012. The 25-year-old was the White Sox’s lone All-Star representative.
It’s ironic that Sale, who was also rushed to the MLB the same year he was drafted and was converted from a reliever to a starter, suffered the same fate as Crochet. The White Sox hope that this haul of prospects will pan out better than the return they got for Sale did.
