Crimson Sox right-hander Kutter Crawford is not on time this spring, as famous by MassLive’s Christopher Smith. The difficulty at hand is soreness in his proper patellar tendon, and Smith notes that the harm really dates again to early final season, in his third begin of the 2024 marketing campaign.
Crawford, 29 in April, made a league-leading 33 begins for the Crimson Sox final yr however pale badly within the second half. The fitting-hander pitched to a strong 3.00 ERA with a 3.77 FIP in his first 20 begins of the 2024 marketing campaign, however issues fell aside after the All-Star break as he struggled to the tune of a 6.59 ERA and 6.08 FIP with an eye-popping 20 homers allowed over the course of his final 13 begins. That speedy drop in manufacturing was pretty simple to dismiss as workload associated provided that Crawford’s 33 begins and 183 2/3 innings of labor final yr have been an enormous step up from the 23 begins and 129 1/3 innings he put collectively in 2023, however this information of taking part in by way of a patellar tendon subject casts his second half struggles in a distinct gentle.
As Smith notes, Crawford’s fastball velocity was down a tick final yr relative to 2023, and the right-hander admits that he was struggling to correctly push off the mound along with his injured leg final season with fluctuating ranges of ache that by no means totally evaporated all through the season. That’s continued by way of the offseason and into Spring Coaching, leading to Crawford being a bit behind the remainder of the membership’s pitching employees. Whereas some pitchers have already progressed to going through reside hitters this spring, Crawford is throwing low-intensity bullpens as he works to construct up power in his ailing knee.
When discussing the harm, Crawford made clear that surgical procedure will not be presently on the desk, although he did acknowledge he and the membership might must “reassess the scenario” if the ache he’s feeling continues after he’s completed rebuilding power in his knee. Even with surgical procedure not at present within the plans, nevertheless, Crawford’s availability for Opening Day seems to be in jeopardy. For his half, the right-hander stated the choice about his availability for the beginning of the season is “probably not in [his] arms” and that it’ll finally be as much as how the crew’s trainers need to deal with his restoration course of. Supervisor Alex Cora, in the meantime, described Crawford as “behind” in camp whereas additionally refusing to commit somehow relating to the righty’s standing for the beginning of the season.
Luckily for the Crimson Sox, they’re about as well-equipped to deal with even an prolonged absence from final yr’s 33-start workhorse as any membership probably may very well be. The membership figures to welcome Lucas Giolito again after he missed the 2024 season on account of UCL surgical procedure, and so they’ve additionally added southpaw Garrett Crochet and right-hander Walker Buehler to the rotation combine this winter. Crochet, Buehler, Giolito, and incumbent begins Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello already appeared more likely to be a part of the membership’s beginning rotation to open the season, and whereas a six-man employees together with Crawford had been bandied about all through the offseason there’s nothing stopping the Crimson Sox from merely going with a conventional five-man employees whereas Crawford recovers.
Within the occasion the membership needs to make use of a six-man employees to open the season or one other rotation arm will get damage this Spring, nevertheless, the Crimson Sox do have a strong quantity of depth at their disposal. Offseason signing Patrick Sandoval figures to be firmly within the membership’s rotation combine when he returns to motion sooner or later within the season half this yr, and till then right-handers Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell, and Quinn Priester might all discover themselves within the dialog for spot begins as wanted all through the season.
