Garrett Crochet quickly realized he had a number problem after being traded to the Boston Red Sox.
He had worn No. 45 with the Chicago White Sox since his MLB debut in 2020, but after being traded on Wednesday, he joined a team that retired that number in honor of Pedro Martínez in 2015.
“Yeah, that’s one of the first things that I realized after the trade went through,” Crochet said on Friday.
His next options were also taken.
“I wore 34 in college, so that one was retired,” he recalled from his time at Tennessee. “Other than that, I never really picked a number since high school, and in high school I wore number 14, which I also believe was retired.”
Boston retired No. 34 for David Ortiz in 2016 and No. 14 for Jim Rice in 2009.
Crochet decided to go with No. 35, which had not been used in 2023. This number had been worn in the past by Richard Bleier (2023), Eric Hosmer (2022), Matt Andriese (2021), and Josh Osich (2020). The last player to wear it for multiple seasons was Steven Wright from 2013 to 2019.
Martínez, now a special assistant for the Red Sox and a spring training instructor, is someone Crochet hopes to meet.
“Having any sort of conversation with Pedro would be my ideal world,” Crochet said. “But I’m kind of going in with low expectations, hoping to bump into guys when I can.”
Crochet was traded during the winter meetings for catcher Kyle Teel, infielder Chase Meidroth, right-hander Wikelman Gonzalez, and outfielder Braden Montgomery.
“It’s a big relief,” Crochet said. “It takes a lot of stress out of the way of, I suppose, in spring training being curious where we’re going to be living, the housing situation is tough to figure out, so it’s nice to kind of be ahead of the game in that regard.”
Crochet had a record of 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA in 32 starts for a White Sox team that finished with a 41-121 record, the worst in baseball since 1900. The 25-year-old was named to the AL All-Star team in his first season as a starter.
“The opportunity to play for the market of Boston, the fan base that’s representing the Red Sox is about as great of an opportunity as you can come by in this game,” he said.
“Especially growing up that’s what you imagine it to be, is Major League Baseball, playing in the AL East, Boston, New York, the whole thing like that. And I grew up watching Big Papi, so it’s going to be a very surreal moment to play where he played.”
Crochet is eligible for arbitration this offseason and next, and unless he signs a long-term deal, he can become a free agent after the 2026 World Series.
“I really haven’t had much time to give it a lot of thought,” he said. “For me this time of year the main thing that I’m focused on is my training and getting ready for spring training.”
