Crochet begins throwing, Anthony starts BP as Sox stars take key steps in rehab

BOSTON – Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet is in the infancy stages of a throwing program that creates at least a possibility he can return at some point this season.

The lefty went over two months without throwing a baseball as he worked to strengthen his rotator cuff. For a while during that period, he threw plyometric balls, but felt it was counterproductive to the strength work he was doing.

“Garrett started throwing yesterday, at 50, 60 feet,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “So as you guys know, he's been down a while. We're in the very infant stages of very short [distance]. But he did have a ball in his hand and was throwing it, which is good. So he's probably going to be in that really short range throwing for now, and then we'll move him along as he goes.”

Crochet, who last pitched for the Red Sox on April 25, would essentially need a full Spring Training progression to return this season. Perhaps it could be shortened a bit if the team has him pitch as a reliever down the stretch and into the playoffs. But that hasn’t been discussed.

“Yeah, he’s got a chance [to pitch this season] for sure,” said Tracy. “I think when you say, ‘Hey a guy has got a ball in his hand and he's throwing like 50 or 60 feet,’ you realize it's a little ways off, but the fact that he's throwing ... you don't know during the course as he goes along here, how's it going feel. So there's still a lot of hurdles to climb.

"But the fact that he has the ball and is trying to [pitch], if everything goes well, certainly there's a chance, but we just got to take it one step at a time and see how he feels as he goes.”

There was also progress on another key Red Sox player who has been out for three months in outfielder Roman Anthony.

The left-handed hitter – who suffered a partially torn tendon in his right wrist on May 4 – started doing tee work last week and has taken another step this week.

“Today, he actually took overhand BP in the cage, which is another step in the right direction. So we're in phases with this,” said Tracy. “Early on, it was tee and flips, which he managed well. Hit BP today for the first time. I think it's a scheduled recovery day tomorrow, and then get back to overhand BP again. So we'll keep him in this phase now and see how he responds to that, and then hopefully advance him past that.”

The next steps would be on-field batting practice and hitting off the Trajekt machine, which simulates Major League pitchers.

If Anthony can get through those steps without incident, he would be cleared to start a Minor League rehab assignment.

“As long as he's feeling good, we can keep moving him along,” said Tracy.