The Chicago White Sox traded Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a prospect package.

The White Sox announced and confirmed the trade on Wednesday previous reports.

The Red Sox are sending catcher Kyle Teel to Chicago as part of the deal, along with outfielder Braden Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth and right-handed pitcher Wikelman Gonzalez. According to MLB.com, Teel is the Red Sox’ No. 4 prospect, Montgomery is No. 5, Meidroth is No. 11 and Gonzalez is No. 14.

Crochet, a left-handed hitter, just completed his first season as a starter with the White Sox, and despite the team’s dismal results, Crochet made the most of his opportunities. In 32 starts in 2024, he posted a 3.58 ERA over 146 innings and recorded 209 strikeouts with just 33 walks. On June 30 against Colorado, he reached a career high of 11 strikeouts. Crochet, 25, received the first All-Star honor of his career in July.

By the deadline, Crochet was in position to be a major contributor to a contending team’s rotation. Instead, the White Sox decided to keep him for the remainder of the 2024 season. Crochet has two more years of control over the team and is scheduled to become a free agent after 2026.

The Red Sox sent a draft to Chicago in exchange for Crochet. Boston needs to eliminate at least two players who want to develop into top players, and in return they get an impact arm to improve their rotation. And it needs an upgrade. Tanner Houck was one of the few bright spots in the Red Sox pitching rotation last year and was the only Boston starter to finish the year with an ERA under 4.00.

Crochet will take over the rotation spot recently filled by Nick Pivetta, who left as a free agent this winter and is still looking for a new team. The Red Sox’s three other starting pitchers – Brayan Bello, Cooper Criswell and Kutter Crawford – are all under contract through at least 2029.

The White Sox, who went 41-121 in 2024, the worst record in MLB history, are deep in the early stages of another rebuild. The signing of Kyle Teel, a 22-year-old catcher and designated hitter, is a positive addition to a farm system that desperately needs to produce multiple stars to help the big league team.

According to MLB and Baseball Prospectus, Teel was a middle-ranked player. He started 2024 in Double-A and was promoted to Triple-A before the end of the season. In 112 games at two levels in 2024, he hit .288/.386/.433 with 23 doubles, 13 home runs, 68 walks and 116 strikeouts.

Teel is the headliner – and a fascinating one. The 14th overall pick in the 2023 draft, he combines rare athleticism for a catcher with exciting offensive upside. He improved at the plate each season during his three years at the University of Virginia and didn’t stop hitting once he hit pro ball, making it all the way to Triple-A by the end of 2024. His stats may never be particularly eye-catching , But the bar for catcher production at the plate is notoriously low — and Teel figures he’ll comfortably clear it. While his fantastic arm is his best defensive attribute, he continues to improve in other aspects of the position. This is one of the best catching opportunities in baseball.

Catcher is a crucial position for any franchise, and now Chicago has several promising candidates at the helm as Teel joins 21-year-old switch-hitter Edgar Quero – acquired from the Angels for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez at the 2023 trade deadline – as another potential backstop of the future. Both players completed 2024 in Triple-A, so it will be interesting to see who gets promoted to the major leagues sooner and if either of them gets playing time at other positions to increase the likelihood of being promoted to the Major Leagues in the coming years could occupy the same squad for years.

Montgomery is arguably the co-headliner alongside Teel, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him emerge as Chicago’s top position player prospect next calendar year. He appeared to be a top-eight prospect in the 2024 draft as a switch hitter out of Texas A&M, but broke his ankle late in his junior season and ultimately fell to Boston at No. 12. He did not play After signing due to injury, his professional debut will now take place with a new organization. There are some questions about his overall hitting tools, but on paper Montgomery looks like a potential star right fielder. This move makes him one of the most interesting players in minor league baseball in 2025, as he will look to make a strong first impression on a team that certainly has very high expectations for him.

With so much infield depth in Boston’s upper levels, Meidroth’s remarkable rise to the top of the major leagues has been somewhat overlooked. I highlighted him as one of the more interesting prospects in the minors last summer due to his combination of defensive versatility and tremendous on-base ability, and now he’s joining a team that offers him significantly more opportunity to make an impact in the major leagues level in the near future. He still needs to work on lifting the ball more often, but the excellent plate discipline ability remains, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Meidroth get significant playing time in Chicago in 2025.

In a bat-riddled Boston farm system, Gonzalez stood out for his upside on the mound, even if he raises significant questions. At about 6 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds, he doesn’t have the typical starter build of a workhorse, but he makes up for it with an incredibly lively arm and awesome raw stuff, including a mid-’90s radiator years and a plus curveball. His big break came in 2023, when his 35.2% strikeout rate led minor league pitchers with at least 100 innings, but his 14.7% walk rate was the 12th highest in the same sample. Command remains a struggle for Gonzalez, and he spent all of 2024 in Double-A but was unable to achieve that level of dominance before being limited to shorter stints. He’ll only be 23 next season and there are plenty of encouraging ingredients, but it remains unclear whether his future lies in the bullpen or the rotation. Read more here. — Schustermann