While the Boston Red Sox didn't accomplish their collective goal of making the postseason in 2024, they did have some players reach impressive individual milestones.
One example of that is right-handed pitcher Kutter Crawford, who made the transition to a starter this year and led the league in starts (33).
In those 33 starts, he posted a 4.36 ERA and a 1.122 WHIP while striking out 8.6 batters per nine innings. While he was able to make his starts throughout the year, he also allowed the most home runs of any pitcher in baseball (34).
Over the weekend, Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas evaluated Crawford's season and compared him to a Cy Young winner.
“He had stretches where he was the best pitcher in baseball, and then somewhere he was the worst pitcher in baseball," Casas said (via. The Boston Herald's Gabrielle Starr). But to his credit, I think he did lead (MLB) in HR given up, which in 2022, Gerrit Cole did the same thing, and then next year wins the Cy Young.”
Boston will likely be bringing in outside talent into their rotation for the 2025 season, but Crawford showed enough to compete for a role in the group.
If he can make the leap to Cy Young winner as Cole did, Boston would be thrilled and would have a great shot to contend.
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