What is Garrett Crochet's fantasy ceiling in Boston?
Will Garrett Crochet blossom into the most dominant starting pitcher in the fantasy landscape in Boston?
The Red Sox pivoted like Hakeem Olajuwon in the low post on the final day of the Winter Meetings in Dallas, after missing out earlier this week on generational slugger Juan Soto to the Mets and sensational southpaw Max Fried to the division-rival Yankees, acquiring burgeoning ace Garrett Crochet from the White Sox in exchange for a prospect haul headlined by catcher Kyle Teel and outfielder Braden Montgomery. The fantasy ramifications are wide-ranging, but the blockbuster trade has a chance to significantly alter the pitching landscape heading into 2025.
It's not hyperbolic to forecast Crochet's exodus from Chicago's ongoing quagmire accelerating his evolution into the most dominant starting pitcher in the fantasy landscape. The AL East isn't a cakewalk by any means from a park factors standpoint, but the combination of Boston's strong supporting cast, and the club's willingness to push him from a workload standpoint as part of a legitimate playoff contender, might be enough to help him make the leap into the Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes territory, if he isn't in that lofty stratosphere already. Seriously.
The hard-throwing 25-year-old southpaw, who has two years left before reaching free agency, finished last season's breakthrough campaign for the White Sox with a stellar 3.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 209/33 K/BB ratio across 146 innings (32 starts). His 35.1 percent strikeout rate last year was the highest in baseball out of 126 pitchers that eclipsed 100 innings. The long-term durability concerns remain, but he's nearly three years removed from Tommy John surgery and doesn't have a ton of tread on his metaphorical tires, given he's made just 104 appearances (32 starts) in the big leagues since the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. There isn't much room for growth from a talent standpoint as Crochet boasts arguably the most dominant four-seam, cutter and sweeper combination in baseball.
The central question for fantasy manager is whether the volume will be there to challenge Skubal, Skenes and other fantasy elites. Crochet is one of the more difficult pitchers to rank from a dynasty standpoint, but I put him fifth overall at the position (29th overall) behind Shohei Ohtani, Skenes, Skubal and international sensation Roki Sasaki in my latest Top 500 Dynasty Rankings for Rotoworld. He'll be drafted as a top 10 starting pitcher for re-draft purposes next spring and there's a case for pushing him as high as fifth overall behind Ohtani, Skenes, Skubal and Zack Wheeler.
It goes without saying that both Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery have bright futures ahead of them in Chicago, but remarkable that Boston was able to secure Crochet without subtracting any additional upper-echelon prospects like Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer or Kristian Campbell. Teel checked in 13th overall at catcher in my latest Top 500 update, which put him just outside the top 50 prospects overall from a pure fantasy standpoint. His South Side arrival complicates things for top prospect Edgar Quero, but it wouldn't be at all shocking to see either of them shift to first base or designated hitter. Meanwhile, Montgomery checked in 290th overall on the list, just inside the top 75 prospects in the game on my list. It's relatively easy to envision the 21-year-old, who was selected 12th overall in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Texas A&M, blossoming into a five-category fantasy contributor down the road. He figures to move quickly, but is still a hyperspace jump or two away from the big leagues.