Counting the postseason, Crochet pitched 213 innings last season, 67 more than he did for the White Sox in 2024. He also became a father in November.

“When last season ended and then my daughter was born, everything kind of fell into my lap,” Crochet said. “I had to do what was best for my family and for my team.”

That meant carefully building up during spring training and not traveling with Team USA.

“[DeRosa] approached me and I wanted to do it,” Crochet said. “There was a point last season when it seemed possible. But then it just didn’t make sense.”

Get Starting Point

A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.

Crochet faced hitters on Friday at JetBlue Park and looked sharp. He’s eager to see how the Red Sox rotation looks with the additions of Sonny Gray, Ranger Suárez, and Johan Oviedo.

“It’s crazy thinking about what the rotation was when we broke camp last year and what we have now,” Crochet said. “It’s cool they brought in people and Ranger and Sonny. And Oviedo is a big man. He’s impressive, too.”

The other presumed starter, Brayan Bello, also faced hitters on Friday, as did relievers Greg Weissert and Jovani Morán.

Work not done

The Red Sox remain in the market for lineup help, two sources said. With the free agent market running dry, their hope is to make a trade for an impactful hitter using prospects as opposed to subtracting from the major league roster.

For now, the Sox are relentlessly acquiring other infielders, claiming Tsung-Che Cheng off waivers from the Nationals a day after they signed Brendan Rodgers to a minor league contract that included an invitation to spring training.

Those moves came in the wake of signing Isiah Kiner-Falefa on Wednesday.

Cheng, 24, was in the Pirates organization from 2019-25. He made his major league debut last season, going 0 for 7 in three games.

He has since been claimed off waivers by the Rays (Jan. 7), Mets (Jan. 16), Nationals (Jan. 28), and now the Red Sox.

Cheng is a good defender who has played shortstop and second base in the minors. He was selected for Taiwan’s team in the WBC.

Rodgers, 29, is a career .261 hitter with a .714 OPS over seven major league seasons. He was the National League’s Gold Glove winner at second base in 2022.

Rodgers was with the Rockies from 2019-24, then played 43 games for the Astros last season, hitting .191.

Crawford takes the mound

Kutter Crawford pitched in the bullpen at Fenway South on Friday. The righthander had his preseason training stalled a bit after a case of the flu put him out of action for a week and cost him 10 pounds … Righthander Noah Song, who will be in major league camp for the first time, also threw in the bullpen. Song, 28, was drafted by the Sox in 2019, and served a stint in the Navy before returning to baseball in 2023.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social‬.