Red Sox’ Garrett Crochet gives injury update, reveals ‘bright side’ of long IL stint

BOSTON — Nearly two months after landing on the injured list with shoulder fatigue, Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet is trying to find silver linings — and remaining hopeful he’ll be back in the team’s rotation relatively soon.

Speaking at his locker at Fenway Park on Friday, Crochet said he’s not concerned that there’s anything more serious than anticipated going on with his shoulder after a recent strength test showed that his strength had not improved enough for him to restart a throwing program. Instead, Crochet said, it’s a matter of following protocols and making sure he’s good to go after a mild lat strain interrupted his progress as he ramped up late last month.

Crochet has been throwing with plyometric (lighter) balls but has not played catch with a baseball since throwing a one-inning live batting practice session on May 26, then being shut down with lat issues a few days later. He hopes he takes that step soon.

“I hope to have a ball — a real baseball — in my hand here soon,“ Crochet said. ”The plyos that I’m doing, though, are not far off. I’m throwing seven ounces, so it’s not like I’m afraid to get close to baseball weight. It’s moreso just the protocol.

“Just still just throwing plyos, doing a lot of (isometric) work. When the team was on the road and I stayed back, I made some good headway. Been trending up for a while. I think that let setback is making us be extra cautious this time, naturally. Just in that situation where it’s like, wait until you feel great, then wait a couple more days.”

Crochet was hopeful to restart his throwing program last week when he stayed back in Boston as the team traveled west to Seattle and Denver. Tests Monday revealed less-than-desirable strength numbers in his shoulder, so the team decided to continue with a cautious approach. Still, there’s no structural damage in the area and Crochet doesn’t believe surgery is on the table. The goal for the past 10 days or so has been trying to avoid overcompensating while throwing.

“When one thing gets weak, something else takes over and that’s kinda what we were doing when the team was on the road, just trying to get out of the compensation as much as possible,” Crochet said. “I’ve never had crazy strength numbers when doing testing with the training stuff. For me, it’s moreso just that I operate really well within certain limits and when I fall out of those ranges, my mechanics get off and things start to compensate. Then, that weakness is exploited.”

Crochet won’t be back before the All-Star break but isn’t sure when he might return to a major league mound. When he starts throwing again, he’ll need to play catch numerous times before throwing off a mound on a series of occasions. Then will come simulated games (like the one May 26) and most likely, multiple rehab games.

“I have target dates I won’t share,” Crochet said, laughing. “I have target dates in my mind but I don’t know what the team’s target date is. I just want to get back as soon as I can.”

For Crochet, the downtime has allowed him to re-examine his mechanics, which he felt were out of whack during a six-outing start to the season in which he logged a 6.30 ERA. It has also allowed him to retroactively re-think how he prepared for 2026 after pitching a career-high 213 innings (including the postseason) last year.

“Disappointing,” Crochet said. “It’s not like I was throwing the ball great, so to go on the IL on top of that kinda sucks. When I initially went on the IL, it was like, ‘Well this is an (expletive) feeling. I was throwing the ball well, then I had a good one and started to feel like I’m making ground (up). Then go on the IL.

“You try to find the bright side in it. For me, this is a good chance to get my mechanics in a good spot. I think I was still just kinda dealing with a little bit of a hangover from the previous year. Just formed some bad habits once the fatigue hit, and even in the offseason. I took some time off but then because of the (World Baseball Classic), we’re getting ready for spring a little earlier. I took more time off, but that made the ramp-up have to be quicker. Just things I hope to learn from.”

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