Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Kutter Crawford’s season is likely over before it started due to an undisclosed off-field “accident” that resulted in a wrist injury.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora announced the injury to reporters Wednesday.
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“Kutter’s gonna have wrist surgery,” Cora said. “… It’s one of those that — it sucks, right? Because we were talking about how deep we were in spring training and the options we had for the starting rotation.
“Now it’s getting thinner and thinner.”
Cora said the surgery is “most likely” season-ending, and the injury wasn’t baseball-related.
“I’m not going to go into details, but this was an off-the-field injury,” Cora said, per MassLive.
Cora emphasized that the injury wasn’t the result of Crawford doing anything “irresponsible.”
“It’s not disappointing. It’s just an accident,” Cora said. “It just sucks that it happened this way. I’m not going to get into details, but it wasn’t irresponsible.”
Crawford was Boston’s most durable starter
Crawford, 29, is in his fifth MLB season, each of which he has played with the Red Sox. Crawford led the AL with 33 starts last season and led the Red Sox with 183 2/3 innings pitched. He produced a 4.36 ERA and 1.122 WHIP with 175 strikeouts and 55 walks. He also allowed an MLB-high 34 home runs.
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Crawford has not pitched this season. He started spring training sidelined due to tendinosis in his right knee that plagued him throughout the 2024 season and began the season on the 60-day injured list. He threw batting-practice sessions in May and was slated for rehab assignments in June in his comeback from his knee injury. But the wrist injury has likely ended his season.
Red Sox dealing with multiple pitching injuries
The news is a further blow to an already shorthanded Red Sox rotation. Starters Tanner Houck and Hunter Dobbins are both on the 15-day injured list due to elbow strains.
Per MassLive, Houck has made two rehab starts at Triple-A Worcester, and Dobbins is scheduled to throw a bullpen session over the upcoming weekend.
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The Red Sox entered Wednesday on a four-game losing streak in the aftermath of the controversial trade of slugger Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. Boston lost two of last weekend’s games against the Giants, with Devers playing for San Francisco.
The Red Sox are 40-41 and in fourth in the AL East, six games behind the first-place New York Yankees.
