Garrett Crochet's amazing path to becoming Alex Bregman's teammate
FORT MYERS, Fla. - "This changes nothing but it changes everything."
That was Garrett Crochet succinctly summarizing the Red Sox' new world just minutes after entering the clubhouse Thursday morning. He knew. Everybody knew. The acquisition of Alex Bregman was changing a lot.
It's a reality that not only for a team that has now entered into a different championship-aspiration conversation, but also for Crochet, the other message-sending acquisition heading into 2025.
Crochet has still never met Bregman in person, but that doesn't mean there is no history leading up to their new lives as Red Sox teammates.
It started as a young teenager going to LSU baseball games, immediately locking on the Tigers' star player at the time - Alex Bregman.
Then came the opportunities Crochet had to actually face one of his baseball heroes, moments that the major leaguer admitted offered glimpses of awe and intimidation.
"I remember facing him for the first time in ’21 and then in the playoffs in ’21. That was one of those guys - I’ve never faced Mike Trout - but that was one of those guys where I faced him and was thinking, ‘This is pretty (expletive) cool.’ I can admit it now," Crochet said. "If he wasn’t on this team it would have never (been said)."
Flash forward to this offseason, when Crochet had a dream.
It started with the premonition that he would be going to the Red Sox, but, upon awakening immediately thinking about the guy he had come to idolize ... again, Alex Bregman.
"I’m not even trying to sound like a prophet or an oracle or something, but, dude, going back to before I was even traded here I had a dream that I was going to get traded here. I told my wife, ‘Hopefully I get traded there. We sign a guy like Bregman.’ Just because it’s someone I admired," Crochet said. "I grew up an LSU baseball fan just because it was one of the closer colleges to my hometown. We would go over there. Saw him play in college. Followed him when he debuted. I was like, ‘Man, it would be really cool to share a locker room like that.’ He has won a couple of World Series. He he had really done it all. And then to see it all come to fruition is pretty cool."
Still, other than facing each other on a baseball diamond, the two had never met. That didn't mean Bregman wasn't aware of Crochet's fandom. It just so happened that thanks to a BBQ contest in Mississippi that Frank Crochet (Garrett's dad) and the then-Astros third baseman both attended, there was at least some kind of introduction between the families.
Yet, Crochet had no hopes that Frank's quick message proclaiming his son's admiration for Bregman would stick. That was until the Red Sox pitcher sent a text in recent weeks to simply say how awesome it might be to call one another teammates.
"My dad, he’s quite the chef," Crochet explained. "He started entering bar-b-que competitions about two years ago. For whatever reason Bregman was down there in Mississippi. My dad just sent a photo of him and all of his buddies and Bregman was in the middle. He was just like, ‘Look at I just met.’ This was before last season, so I’m thinking, ‘Bregman doesn’t know who the hell I am.’ I texted him during the free agency process saying, ‘Hope it all works out.’ As players we just want to make sure everybody gets paid and everybody goes where they wants to go. Luckily, he did both, but with us.
"When I texted him he said, ‘Yeah, I met your dad a couple of years ago.’ I knew my dad was going eat that up, so I texted him and he loved it."
Now, it has all led to Crochet and Bregman sharing the same clubhouse. Up until these last few months it's something the pitcher - and the Red Sox - could only dream of.
"We came in here preparing all offseason, this team did, with aspirations of making to the playoffs and making it far. You add a guy like Bregman and the mission remains the same, but you add some experience there. A guy who is going to protect the rest of the lineup but also have his fair share of success. I just walked in here, but I would imagine the guys are pretty fired up," Crochet said.
"Just kind of have that, for lack of a better term, guys that have that aura about them. They walk in the room and instantly command guys, having respect, not from just our team but from guys across the entire league. And Bregman isn’t a guy who is fun to face. I’m glad he’s on our team."