Garrett Crochet gives Red Sox an ace, but will rotation hold up in 2025?
The Boston Red Sox have an ace to front their rotation in Garrett Crochet, which has created a sense of optimism around the 2025 club. If the Red Sox want to return to the postseason for the first time since 2021, they were going to need a bulldog to take the mound every five days.
Crochet gives Boston that and more, a burly 6-foot-6 lefty with an intimidating leg kick who is determined to blow it by anyone standing at the plate. He can touch triple digits on the radar gun with relative ease, and by season's end should have a large collection of strikeouts to his name.
The Red Sox paid a pretty penny to pry Crochet from the White Sox, sending the team's last two first-round picks to Chicago in a four-for-1 swap. But that's what it takes to land a 25-year-old flamethrower who could front a rotation for the next decade. Crochet will get his first crack at leading the Boston staff on March 27 when he gets the Opening Day not for the Red Sox against the Rangers in Texas.
While manager Alex Cora hasn't officially announced his five-man rotation to start the season, Tanner Houck, newcomer Walker Buehler, and Richard Fitts are slated to finish off Boston's four-game series against the Rangers. No starter has been named for Boston's series-opener against the Orioles in Baltimore on March 31, but with right-hander Quinn Priester being optioned to Triple-A Worcester, it's fair to deduce Sean Newcomb will be the team's fifth starter to begin the year.
That's not exactly the rotation everyone expected early in the spring, and those dreams of a potential six-man rotation evaporated quickly as injuries began to stack up in the rotation. Fitts and Newcomb are only in the mix at the moment because Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, and Lucas Giolito are all starting the season on the Injured List.
With that injury news came some real concern about the durability of Boston's rotation throughout the 162-game season -- plus the hope for more in October. Optimism tends to wane a bit when three-fifths of a rotation is expected to miss time right from the jump, and we'll see early on if the Red Sox have the depth to overcome injuries that will pop up throughout the season.
But the promising sign is Cora had a handful of options to pick from as his injury replacements, which is the kind of depth this team hasn't had for years. It's a big reason most of the team's starters (and pitchers in general) were completely gassed at the end of the 2024 season.
Here's a look at the five starters the Red Sox will send to the mound in their first go-around from the 2025 season, plus a rundown of the injured arms the team hopes to get back in the near future.
Garrett Crochet
Simply put, Crochet is nasty. An absolutely filthy fireballer who will give the team a chance to win -- and will be appointment viewing for Red Sox fans -- every five days.
The lefty relies mostly on his four-seem fastball which averages 97 MPH, but he can easily rear back and hit 100 MPH on the gun. He mixes in a cutter and change-up, and that arsenal has led to a lot of strikeouts for Crochet.
In his first full season as a starter last year, Crochet punched out 209 batters over 146 innings. He had an incredible 35.1 percent strikeout rate for the season.
This spring for Boston, Crochet fanned 46 percent of the batters he faced, punching out 30 over 15.2 innings. He did surrender 13 hits and walked eight, which ballooned his WHIP to 1.340, but he had a sterling 0.57 ERA in the exhibition season.
Crochet checked a lot of personal boxes last season. He made his first career start on Opening Day for the White Sox and made it through a full season as a starter. But Chicago limited his innings late in the year, which is something the Red Sox won't be doing unless the season goes horribly wrong.
Whether or not Crochet can handle that workload remains unknown, but it's clear the Red Sox have a no-nonsense ace to lead their pitching staff in 2025. Hopefully the K-Crew got some rest this offseason, because they're going to busy whenever Crochet takes the mound at Fenway Park.
Tanner Houck
Houck took a huge step forward last season as he anchored the Boston staff and made 30 starts for the first time in his career. He earned his first All-Star nod and finished the year with a 3.12 ERA and 1.142 WHIP.
He's out to prove that last season was no fluke, and will have less pressure on his shoulders thanks to Crochet's addition.
Walker Buehler
Buehler missed all of the 2023 season and made just 16 starts for the Dodgers last year as he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery. But after a rough first start in the playoffs, he tossed 10 scoreless innings for Los Angeles, and got the win in Game 3 and a save in the World Series-clincher over the Yankees.
Now Buehler is with a new team for the first time in his career, and will bring a nice veteran presence to the Red Sox rotation.
Richard Fitts
Fitts is in the rotation as an injury replacement and may only hold the spot for a few turns. But he earned it with a solid spring, where he allowed just four runs over 14.2 innings while striking out 14 batters. He made four starts for Boston at the end of last season and didn't allow any earned runs in two of them.
The 25-year-old, who Boston acquired from the Yankees in last year's Alex Verdugo trade, was 9-5 with a 4.17 ERA over his 23 starts (and on relief appearance) for the Worcester Red Sox in 2024.
Sean Newcomb
A Brockton native who went to Middleborough High, Newcomb joined the Red Sox on a minor league deal in January. Now the veteran lefty is likely going to start the season at the back of the Boston rotation.
The 31-year-old earned the spot with a solid spring, striking out 13 batters to just three walks. He surrendered one earned run off nine hits over 14.1 innings -- good for a 0.63 ERA.
Newcomb has pitched 431 innings over his career for the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, and Oakland Athletics, and will give Boston some important depth even after injured starters return.
While they're both injury replacements, its a huge positive that Fitts and Newcomb went out and earned their spots in the rotation this spring. It speaks to the team's pitching depth, which will be a big part of a potential return to October baseball for the Red Sox.
Red Sox injured starters
Now the question becomes when will those injured starters actually return? Bello is starting the year on IL with a sore shoulder, but he isn't expected to be there very long. He could potentially be back in the Boston rotation for the team's first home series against the St. Louis Cardinals, which begins on April 4.
Bello was set to be the Red Sox ace last season and he did make a career-high 30 starts, but his 4.19 ERA and 1.361 WHIP left a lot of room for improvement.
Giolito is on the IL with a low-grade hamstring strain he suffered during his spring debut, which popped up after the righty threw just one pitch. It doesn't sound like he'll be on the shelf for long, but he's not someone the Red Sox can depend on until he proves otherwise. Giolito has yet to throw a pitch in the regular season for Boston after signing a two-year, $38.5 million contract with the Red Sox ahead of the 2024 season.
The outlook is even murkier on Crawford, who led the Red Sox staff with 183.2 innings pitched in 2024. He hurt his right knee covering first base last April (in just his third start) and pitched through discomfort the rest of the way. He was hoping the injury would improve over the offseason, but a setback has him on the shelf and the Red Sox don't know when he'll be able to return.
"We will be tested right away, but I think we'll be OK," Cora said back on March 13 when he announced Giolito would start the season on the IL.
While dealing with a number of injuries to the starting rotation is not an ideal situation to be in, the Red Sox might have the depth to survive them to begin the year. As long as Crochet stays healthy and can increase his innings from last season and the pitching depth proves fruitful, the Red Sox should still be in good shape to contend for a playoff spot in 2025.
