White Sox Acquire Four Prospects for Garrett Crochet
On Wednesday, the Chicago White Sox closed out the 2024 winter meetings with a blockbuster trade as they finally pulled the trigger on a deal that sent 25-year-old left-hander Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox for a package of prospects.
The #WhiteSox have acquired C Kyle Teel, OF Braden Montgomery, INF Chase Meidroth and RHP Wikelman González from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for LHP Garrett Crochet.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) December 11, 2024
All 4 players are rated by https://t.co/JcyGHUs2CX among the Top 15 prospects in the Red Sox organization. pic.twitter.com/847fNrN7Ju
The Evolution of Garrett Crochet
Garrett Crochet was a major revelation in 2024. For Chris Getz, the lefty was the equivalent of finding a few hundred dollars in a pair of old jeans. Many organizations would have kept the 25-year-old southpaw and extended his contract for years. The White Sox aren’t particularly close to contention however and Jerry Reinsdorf’s tenure as owner suggests a strong unwillingness to pay the price for premium pitching. Crochet was essentially “found money” for the organization and they appeared to have cashed in at the right time.
The 6-6, 245 pound lefty missed a lot of time in college and the pandemic shortened season allowed the White Sox to pluck the lefty out of the University of Tennessee in 2020 with the 11th overall pick in the amateur draft. While some thought that the club selected a premium reliever with a pick just outside the top ten, the decision makers recommending the selection never put the player in that particular box.
After promising initial impressions at the club’s alternate site in Schaumburg, Illinois, Crochet raced to the big leagues and struck out eight in six innings out of the bullpen. Tony La Russa took over the following season and coveted the big left-hander as a member of the 2021 team with massive expectations in a bullpen role. Crochet threw 54.1 innings in a relief role and he struck out 65 hitters with his premium stuff frequently on display. The lefty then missed the 2022 season as he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. In his eventual return, Crochet really struggled in 12.2 total innings in 2023.
Elijah Evans and Dylan Barnas Discussed the Trade Return on an Emergency Podcast
Garrett Crochet was Mike Shirley’s first draft pick as the director of amateur scouting. “Garrett Crochet is an extraordinary talent and a super athlete,” said Shirley after the pick was made. Shirley also stated that for anyone who knew Crochet’s development path, it was a “testament to his strong work ethic and desire”. Shirley believed from the beginning that he used the 11th overall pick on a starting pitcher with top-of-the-rotation upside.
It seemed extremely unlikely that Crochet could pitch a full season in the starting rotation but he defied all odds. Chris Getz named the first rounder from 2020 as the club’s opening day starter and he never looked back. The southpaw made 32 starts and threw 146 innings while striking out 209 hitters and walking 33. Crochet posted a 3.58 ERA with a 2.69 FIP and he accumulated 4.7 fWAR. He projects to be one of the best pitchers in the American League going forward and the acquisition will be a coup for the Boston Red Sox. The White Sox believe that they did very well too though.
Changing from Red Sox to White Sox
The Red Sox traded their previous two first rounders to headline the package for Garrett Crochet. Catcher Kyle Teel is rated as the #25 overall prospect in baseball according to Baseball America while outfielder Braden Montgomery checks in at #59 overall. The White Sox acquired four of Boston’s top 14 prospects in the deal. Teel ranks as the #25 overall prospect for MLB Pipeline as well with Montgomery ranking at #54 overall. The publication now lists the prospects at numbers two, five, 13 and 14 respectively in the Pale Hose system.
Kyle Teel hit .298/.390/.462 with a 145 wRC+ in 84 games in Double-A last season. The left-handed hitter walked at a 12.6% clip and clubbed 11 homers. After a promotion to Triple-A Worcester, the backstop posted a 97 wRC+ with a 16.3% walk rate. Teel posted a 167 wRC+ at Double-A in a brief stint in 2023 after being selected with the 14th overall pick out of Virginia.
The 6-1, 190 pounder earned All American Honors and was named the ACC Player of the Year as a junior for Virginia in 2023 after also hitting .407/.475/.655. He signed for $4 million. The 22-year-old possesses average power with a plus hit tool and he’ll stay behind the plate with average receiving skills and an above-average arm. Teel has displayed an efficient left-handed swing with an all-fields offensive approach. The catcher has the offensive upside to hit 20 homers per season with good framing skills as well. There’s some defensive versatility present in his game but his ceiling is as an impact catcher.
The second player in the trade could end being the one who swings the deal and our Elijah Evans profiled him as a draft prospect this past July. Montgomery starred as a two-way Mississippi prep coming into the 2021 draft but he opted to attend Stanford instead. That decision paid off for the now 21-year-old. The 6-2, 200 pounder hasn’t played a professional game yet after being selected by the Red Sox with the 12th overall pick in the 2024 draft.
Montgomery was seen as a potential top five player in the draft class but he fractured his ankle in June while playing for Texas A&M in their quest for a national championship. The switch-hitter currently possesses a “power over hit” approach and he did strikeout more than 20% of the time as a college player while also displaying an 18% walk rate. He made plenty of hard contact to go with sound swing decisions and he swing the bat better from the left side.
Montgomery hit 35 homers in two years at Stanford and launched 27 more this past spring for Texas A&M. The outfielder has shown plus power to all fields with a quick, aggressive stroke. He has played some center field but it’s a likely right field profile in the end with the chance for above-average defense guided by a plus-plus throwing arm.
The package was headlined by two top 50 overall prospects but the back end of the deal offers some promising upside as well. Chase Meidroth was the 8th ranked prospect in the Boston system at the time of the trade and the 23-year-old really had a great season at Triple-A Worcester in 2024. The 5-10, 170 pounder hit .293/.437/.400 and walked 105 times while leading the International League in on base percentage. The right-handed hitter posted a 132 wRC+ with an 18.8% walk rate and 12.7% strikeout rate. He also hit seven homers.
Meidroth torched both levels of A ball in the Carmines’ system and conquered Double-A as well. He might be the leading candidate for the White Sox’s second base job to open the season in Chicago at this point. He was originally selected in the fourth round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of the University of San Diego. He was injured quite a bit in college but he was stellar with wood bats in the Northwoods League. He possesses bat to ball skills and strike zone management with a compact swing. He rarely chases outside the zone and while he’s versatile, he’s a likely second baseman with not much power upside to project.
The fourth player in the deal led the minor leagues in strikeout rate (13.6/9) and strikeout percentage (35%) in 2023 after some refocusing efforts with Boston personnel. Originally signed by the Red Sox out of Venezuela in 2018 for $250K, the righty was seen as the top pitching prospect in the organization after 2023. The 22-year-old struggled in 2024 however after making 19 starts in 83.2 innings with a 4.12 FIP in Double-A. Wikelman Gonzalez was stellar over the course of 10 starts in Double-A back in 2023 though.
The 6-0, 167 pound right hander has shown a plus-plus fastball in the 93-95 mph range and it touches 97 with a flat approach angle and carry. The 22-year-old has also shown two plus secondary offerings with am upper 70’s hammer curveball that he struggles to throw for strikes and a fading mid 80’s changeup in the arsenal as well. Gonzalez scrapped the curveball to throw more of a slider/cutter hybrid instead but his stuff was worse overall in 2024.
Gonzalez has some effort in his delivery but he’s athletic on the mound. This is the kind of pitcher with premium upside that clubs like to acquire as a sweetener in a deal like this and the White Sox did well to nab him. The right hander just hasn’t thrown strikes consistently enough and while he has the ceiling of a #2 starter eventually, his stuff could really play up in the bullpen and a potential high-leverage role is possible. He’ll get every opportunity to stay in the rotation however.
White Sox Process and Front Office Lieutenants
When Chris Getz was appointed to the big chair, many White Sox’s fans and observers were unhappy with his selection and the process that ultimately led to his promotion. It was fair criticism as the organization chose to eschew the responsibility of interviewing and eventually hiring one of the best and brightest from another organization. There have been some hits and misses in his first year on the job but he promised that he would bring in outsiders to help him rebuild the franchise and he’s lived up to that promise.
Soon after getting the job, Josh Barfield and Jin Wong were announced as assistant general managers. Veteran talent evaluator Gene Watson was tabbed as the new director of player personnel while Brian Bannister joined the organization as a senior advisor to pitching and Paul Janish left Rice University to become the club’s new director of player development. More change came this off-season as well as veteran scout David Keller replaced Marco Paddy on the international scouting front and former Baltimore Orioles hitting coach Ryan Fuller took on the role of director of hitting.
The coaching staff has been formulated as well and while many familiar faces have returned, Will Venable is the new manager and local guy Walker McKinven left the Milwaukee Brewers to join the White Sox. Keller has been working behind the scenes to reshape the international department and he’ll be leading the charge on putting together a presentation for Japanese ace Roki Sasaski, who is expected to sign when the new international period opens on January 15th.
In addition to Venable and front office staff, McKinven and Fuller joined Chris Getz for the winter meetings. Regardless of what anyone else thinks about the club’s direction at this juncture, Getz’s plan to reshape the White Sox has convinced these talented people to join him in Chicago. He’s putting them all to work to aide his processes as well.
“I like collaboration,” Getz said this past Tuesday. “We have a lot of talent in the room and organization and I’m going to utilize that. It’s not a one man show by any stretch.” “At the end of the day, I’m the decision-maker, and I’m pretty sure they know that, but they’re part of this process and part of building this. I brought them in because they’re valuable in a lot of ways, so when it comes to decision-making, I’m going to take their input. But ultimately I’m the decision-maker.”
Bannister is always involved in pitching decisions and he likely filed his input on Wikelman Gonzalez and new Rule Five selection Shane Smith. Fuller is acting in a similar role and joined the crew in Dallas for his opinion as well. He’ll get to work with Teel, Montgomery and Meidroth in addition to recent signing Mike Tauchman. Walker McKinven has been seen as a bit of a “catcher whisperer” in Milwaukee and it’ll be interesting to see him get his hands on the newly acquired Teel.
Director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley surely played a significant role in this trade as well. Shirley has run the franchise’s draft room since 2020 and Teel and Montgomery were both heavily in the mix to be the selection of the White Sox in those years. The White Sox selected Ole Miss shortstop Jacob Gonzalez at #15 overall, one pick after Teel was selected. Montgomery was apparently in the mix to go #5 overall this spring however, prior to his season ending ankle injury.
“I had heard that the White Sox were really interested, they really loved me,” Montgomery said. “But obviously with the Draft, you never know how things shake out.” Getz confirmed after the deal was made that the White Sox heavily considered the outfielder out of Texas A&M before ultimately settling on lefty Hagen Smith out of Arkansas.
Ian Eskridge and James Fox discussed the deal as well
There were five teams seriously involved in Crochet discussions at the end but Getz and his staff felt like this was a trade that the White Sox needed to make. “We’re fortunate in this deal to get high-end talent, and four of them. We feel like we’ve got value and volume in this deal, and that’s why it became very obvious we need to make a move on this,” said Getz.
“Not only are they talented, but they’re high character,” Getz said. “When you’re building a foundation like we’re set out to do, to go out there and find talented players with high character, that’s the direction of this organization to be able to accomplish something that I feel like it’s going to put us in a really good position moving forward,” Getz said about the level of players acquired in the trade.
The White Sox turned down offers for their ace at the trade deadline and they weren’t going to make a deal unless they received exactly what they wanted. The Red Sox stepped up this week. “You look at the long-term health of the organization, and to inject the type of talent that we just did in this trade is really exciting for us,” Getz said. “You talk about accelerating a rebuild, this was a deal that we feel like can do that.”
