White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz was effusive in his praise of former charge Garrett Crochet before Sunday’s game.
But he had one wish.
“He’s one of the best arms I’ve ever seen in person, that I’ve worked with. It’s a special pitcher,” Katz said. “I’m glad he’s doing really well. He’s doing what he did last year.
“Today, he doesn’t need to pitch like that.”
Katz didn’t get what he wanted. Crochet, the player the White Sox traded in December, was just as dazzling as he was in 2024, nearly no-hitting his former club Sunday on the South Side.
Crochet carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, losing it when Chase Meidroth, one of the four prospects the White Sox received in that deal, singled past the shortstop. Crochet left the game immediately, a visiting pitcher getting a standing ovation from the home fans. The home team, meanwhile, couldn’t sweep the Red Sox, losing 3-1.
As recently as early December, the idea of Crochet throwing this kind of gem at Rate Field would have been music to White Sox fans’ ears. But Chris Getz’s front office dealt Crochet away at the Winter Meetings, capitalizing on a rare chance to infuse a wealth of minor league talent into its long-term rebuilding project.
Even though the Red Sox parted with a quartet of well-regarded prospects, they knew what they were getting in Crochet, who elevated himself from a relatively inexperienced reliever to an All-Star rotation ace last season. He looked like a player to build around, but the White Sox’ state as rebuilders meant the timing didn’t line up.
The Red Sox had no trouble making Crochet part of their long-term planning, however, recently handing him a $170 million contract extension that will keep him in Boston through 2031.
Plenty of White Sox fans would have liked Getz & Co. to make that deal to keep Crochet in Chicago.
Any lingering frustration over that was surely multiplied by Crochet’s performance Sunday, and perhaps by what he had to say Friday, when he illustrated the difference between the rebuilding White Sox and the contending Red Sox.
“Last year with the White Sox,” he said, “we weren’t expecting to make the playoffs. Everyone in the locker room was hoping to make the roster. This year, we have bigger aspirations. The sense of urgency was greater in camp. The sense of veteran presence to your left and right wherever you were in the clubhouse was pretty huge.
“We went out and got [Alex] Bregman. [Rafael Devers] has won a World Series. [Walker] Buehler has won a World Series. It felt like it was the big leagues, you know?”
And so White Sox fans, unable to dream on where Crochet might take them, are forced to dream on what the future Getz is building might look like.
In the present, that means wondering if Shane Smith is a piece of the puzzle. The first pick in December’s Rule 5 draft, Smith has been very good in three starts, with a 2.04 ERA.
It hasn’t all been pretty. The two runs he gave up Sunday came when three straight Red Sox reached with two outs in the sixth inning, including one on a two-out walk. But Smith has been a bright spot during a poor start on the South Side, and though it’s way too early to suggest he could be another Crochet-style success story, Katz is happy with how things are going.
“It’s hard to believe that he was not protected,” Katz said. “It’s a great story to see where he was and becoming the first pick in the Rule 5 and coming here and just taking advantage of every situation. … It’s great to see stuff like that.”
Fans will find out how great Smith ends up being. They already know how great Crochet is, the left-hander reminding everyone Sunday exactly what kind of pitcher the White Sox traded away.