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Red Sox ace’s night with Boston legends made him feel World Series title is ‘inevitable’
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- Red Sox ace’s night with Boston legends made him feel World Series title is ‘inevitable’
BOSTON — On Saturday night, amid a brutal start to the Red Sox season, a ce Garrett Crochet received a poignant reminder of the standard in the town he calls home.
Shortly after the Red Sox suffered their latest tough loss — a late-inning 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Padres — Crochet made the trek downtown for an event near TD Garden to Julian Edelman, Zdeno Chara and Derrick White for a launch event commemorating the release of Samuel Adams beers featuring the four athletes. At a panel in front of a small group at Banners Kitchen & Tap, the quartet was asked about their favorite memories from playing in Boston. Edelman remembered the parades, Chara waxed poetic about celebrating the Bruins’ 2011 championship and White spoke of the sweetness of clinching the 2024 NBA Finals in front of a home crowd. For Crochet, the lightbulb went on.
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“I’d like to think my favorite memory hasn’t happened yet,” Crochet told the crowd.
A day later, sitting at his locker in the Red Sox clubhouse, Crochet said hearing the stories from three athletes who had won titles in Boston — and realizing he was the odd man out — was a motivating moment.
“Dude, all three of them were talking about it,” Crochet said. “I was joking with Edelman saying, ‘You guys should have let me go first.’ Chara was in my ear the whole time like, ‘You’ll get there man, don’t worry. You’ll get there. It’s coming for you guys, too.’
“Since I’ve been here, (with) other athletes from other teams, all the fans, it feels like it’s inevitable. Everyone’s like, ‘Just wait until you win your first one in Boston.’ That’s the culture this city has established and the sports teams here have established. It’s a standard that every team likes to set, but to feel like the fans are the ones setting it is pretty cool.”
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For Crochet, sharing the stage with Edelman, Chara and White was yet another reminder of how much things have changed in the last two years. At the beginning of 2024, he was nothing more than a talented but unproven White Sox lefty who had yet to make one start in the big leagues. Now, after a blockbuster trade, a $170 million extension and a standout debut season in Boston, Crochet is one of the faces of the Red Sox. It’s something that has come rapidly — yet organically — for a 26-year-old who is starring in beer commercials just 22 months after having his workload monitored for a historically bad White Sox team that finished 41-121.
“When I was doing the commercial with them in the offseason, I was just like, ‘What the (expletive)?’” Crochet said. “I never would have imagined being in that kind of position.
“You imagine the personal glory that comes on the field. That’s what you dream about and that’s what you strive for, especially when I was in a position like I was two years ago when we’re setting records (for losses) and I was strictly striving for personal success — starting in the month of May based on what our record was and hearing my name on the trade block. Then, it was like, ‘Man, how do I get out?’ Then, To come here last year and get the extension and feel like I can get back to being a little bit more team-centered."
Part of the adjustment for Crochet, who will look to stop Boston’s latest losing streak when he starts Tuesday night opposite Brewers righty Jacob Misiorowski , is embracing the spotlight. He’s comfortable being featured at events like Saturday’s, where he served his signature beer to fans from behind the bar and faced off against Edelman in ping pong. Still, it has been a fast-moving journey to such a pedestal.
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“Looking back, it’s like, ‘Wow,’” Crochet said. “The perspective of it is incredibly weird. It’s weird to know where I was because right now, it just feels normal. I felt like it was kinda building up, and really as soon as the trade happened, it was like, ‘Ok, here we go’ and it was my new normal.”
It was a busy night, but Crochet still had some pockets of time to pick the brains of Edelman, Chara and White about their championship experiences. The lefty left the bar all the more motivated.
“It’s really cool, too, especially because I’ve been here for a year, how those guys really support the other sports in this city,” he said. “I thought that was really special.
“It’s a lot of pressure, but you work your whole life to be able to feel that pressure.”
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