Garrett Crochet’s transition from reliever to starter couldn’t have gone better. It was so successful, in fact, that by midseason he and his former club faced an unusual problem.

He was racking up too many innings.

Coming into last season Garrett Crochet had never pitched more than 54.1 innings in a big league season, but after a dominant first-half that saw him emerge as one of the game’s top young arms, he’d nearly doubled that total by July. With the Chicago White Sox well out of contention and looking to preserve Crochet’s health, the club heavily managed their ace’s workload throughout the second half, limiting him to no more than four innings per outing.

Crochet ultimately made 32 starts and finished with a career-high 146 innings. Now, fresh off being traded to the Boston Red Sox, Crochet is excited for the chance to be let off the leash.

“I hope to not even be wearing a collar come the second half next year,” Crochet said.

Numbers game: Why Garrett Crochet’s Red Sox trade feels like fate

Speaking to the Boston media for the first time since Wednesday’s blockbuster trade, Crochet said he’s feeling great physically after last year’s breakout season and is relieved to finally be able to put all of the trade rumors behind him. The 25-year-old acknowledged that the speculation took its toll, and even something as simple as figuring out where he’d be living in spring training had been clouded with uncertainty.

“A lot of people might view the trade as adding some chaos into your life but for me it felt like all the chaos was stripped away,” Crochet said. “Just worrying about it for eight months on end, seeing the writing on the wall, it was nice to be able to put it behind me and now looking forward to the season.”

Regarded as potentially the most impactful Red Sox trade acquisition since Chris Sale, the biggest question mark surrounding Crochet at this point is his ability to stay healthy. The left-hander already underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022, and given the prevalence of pitcher injuries in today’s game there was real concern that putting too much on his plate too soon could have had long-term consequences.

Much like how the Washington Nationals held Stephen Strasburg out of the 2012 playoffs following his return from elbow surgery, the White Sox throttled Crochet’s innings down the stretch, which he found irritating but understandable.

“It was frustrating in a lot of ways but at the same time I understood the usage concerns. Going from 12 (innings) to 100 would be seen as a big jump and even being that close to 150 is a lot greater,” Crochet said. “But there’s a lot of things that I was working on in the second half that I felt like I could have expanded on had the innings been a little more normal, but at the same time those are the cards I was dealt and I was still just getting my work in as best I could.”

With no restrictions anticipated, Crochet said he’s looking forward to building on the steps he took as a pitcher last season. He’s excited to work with new pitching coach Andrew Bailey and the rest of the Red Sox staff, and that several of his new teammates have already reached out to connect.

Most importantly, after enduring a couple of quick playoff exits early in his career and then last year’s 121-loss disaster, he’s excited for the prospect of making a deep playoff run, especially with a historic franchise like the Red Sox.

“I think the opportunity to play in the market of Boston, the fanbase representing the Red Sox is about as great an opportunity as you can come by in this game,” Crochet said. “Especially growing up, that’s what you imagine Major League Baseball is, playing in the AL East, Boston, New York, the whole thing like that. I grew up watching Big Papi so it’s going to be a very surreal moment to play where he played.”