Garrett Crochet has been historically good on the mound for the Boston Red Sox in 2025. And apparently, he’s adding a role as a front office assistant to his resume as well.
On Saturday, Crochet pitched the first complete game shutout of his career, allowing just three hits while striking out nine to beat Tampa Bay 1-0. The 26-year-old left-hander improved to 10-4, and his 2.23 ERA is the lowest among all MLB starters, earning Crochet a spot on the American League All-Star team.
The nine strikeouts boosted Crochet’s season total to 160, which also is tops in the league. And according to Paul Hembekides of ESPN, it also put Crochet ahead of Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez into second place for most strikeouts in his first 20 starts with the Red Sox. Chris Sale had 200 strikeouts at that point on his way to 308 during the 2017 season.
Garrett Crochet Passes Pedro Martinez for Most Strikeouts to Start Red Sox Career
It’s everything that the Red Sox could have hoped for when they traded four players – including top prospects Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery – to the Chicago White Sox last December for Crochet, then signed him to a six-year, $170 million deal through 2031 at the start of the season.
“Signing the contract allowed me the freedom to perform the way that I am right now,” said Crochet. “There aren’t a lot of guarantees. But when you sign, it’s guaranteed. So for me, I think that it just gave me a lot of freedom to go out there and really just be myself and focus on winning baseball games, not really chasing stats per se, just chasing the win column. That’s really been huge for me.”
And it’s in that pursuit of “the win column” that Crochet and fellow All-Star Alex Bregman seem to be engaged in some behind-the-scenes recruitment of another starting pitcher who could prove pivotal in Boston’s postseason goals.
Prior to the All-Star Game on Tuesday at Truist Park in Atlanta, Bregman posted a few pictures to his Instagram page, with the first one featuring him and Crochet on either side of Minnesota Twins starter Joe Ryan. The photo was liked by nearly 33,000 people, many of whom added messages wildly supporting the notion that the Red Sox duo was attempting to manifest a deal that would send Ryan to Boston.
“Bring him home Alex,” declared the Red Sox fan page bostonstrong_34.
Tyler Milliken of 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston posted the photo to his X (formerly Twitter) page, stating, “It’d be pretty damn cool if they were all wearing the same uniform in the next few weeks…”
Garrett Crochet, Alex Bregman Excite Fans With Photo Alongside Twins Pitcher Joe Ryan
Ryan was a solid starter for Minnesota over the previous three seasons, but the 29-year-old right-hander has kicked it up a few notches in 2025. He earned his first trip to the All-Star Game with a 9-4 record, ranking among the league’s top 20 pitchers in ERA (2.72) and strikeouts (121).
With the Twins at 47-49 and sitting several games back in the AL Wild Card chase, speculation is that the team will be seller’s leading up to the July 31 trade deadline, although there is debate over whether they will make Ryan available. Currently signed to a one-year, $3 million contract, Ryan is arbitration eligible for two more seasons before becoming an unrestricted free agent after 2027.
However, Twins president Derek Falvey was a guest Tuesday on the New York Post podcast “The Show” with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, and when asked about the team’s approach over the next few weeks, Falvey seemed to indicate that no player is off the table.
“Our job is to listen to everything,” Falvey said. “The goal is to make the Minnesota Twins better, right? And ultimately, whether that means short term, long term, depends on where you are sometimes at the deadline.”
Minnesota Twins Pitcher Joe Ryan ‘Excited’ by Discussion of Potential Trades
Meanwhile, Ryan appears to be content, perhaps even excited about the idea of moving to another team this summer. Talking on Monday to Rob Bradford, co-host of the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast and reporter for Boston sports radio station WEEI, Ryan admitted getting a bit of an adrenaline rush from “the trade stuff.”
“It’s fun for me,” Ryan said. “July is awesome. I think everyone in the clubhouse gets excited, just seeing where guys are going to go around the league. You don’t know, and I think that’s exciting. Being someone that could get traded, it would be exciting. I mean, I do love Minnesota and I love where I’m at so, it would be sad, definitely hard to go. But at the end of the day, it’s never up to me.”
If it were up to Crochet, he certainly wouldn’t mind sharing the mound at Fenway Park with another All-Star starter.
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