BOSTON -- Red Sox lefty Garrett Crochet took his latest step toward a possible return as a reliever this season on Tuesday, throwing a side session of roughly 20 pitches in which he threw fastballs and his complementary offerings.
It was Crochet’s second side session in five days. The first one was 15 pitches, and all fastballs.
“Looked good,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “I just briefly talked to him. He felt good too. So, looked good and felt good. Good step in the right direction. I don't know the next steps yet. Probably another side sometime this weekend."
Crochet had been shut down from throwing off the mound for nearly three months, during which he spent time strengthening his ailing left shoulder.
Perhaps at some point next week, Crochet will throw to hitters. It seems unlikely Crochet will have time to go on a Minor League rehab assignment. Triple-A Worcester’s season ends on Sept. 20, one week before the Red Sox conclude their season.
Could Crochet go right from live batting practice to pitching for the Red Sox very late in the regular season or at the start of the postseason, even after such a long layoff?
“It's Garrett Crochet,” said Tracy. “If Garrett Crochet looks like Garrett Crochet and he's healthy and able to go out there and pitch, and it looks like him, yeah, that helps any team. That's why we keep working to get all these guys healthy. It's a good problem to have if and when you get there. I don’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to get there. When you get there, it becomes about winning the World Series and whatever you have on your roster that can help you. That's what you're going to try to do.”
In other words, if Crochet doesn't look quite up to snuff when the bell rings for the postseason, the Red Sox won’t force him onto the roster. They could always wait until a later round should the club advance.
“He would want to look good. He would want to feel good, and feel like he has his arsenal and his stuff to do that,” said Tracy. “That's why I keep saying I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I just want to keep moving along, move the train along here. And then once you get closer, see how he feels, see how he looks and is it feasible?”
Crochet’s background in all roles of pitching could be of help for the Red Sox. He was a reliever in college, the Minors and in the Majors with the White Sox. And due to his starting experience, the Sox could always deploy him as an opener.
“I think he could be used in any of those,” said Tracy. “He's obviously a starting pitcher, so he'd have plenty of comfort opening a game if you wanted to go that route. And like as you said, he's pitched out of the bullpen, so if he needed to come in in the middle innings of a game and wipe out two innings, I'm sure he'd have comfort doing that too, so I think that's the beauty of it. If he's healthy and ready, and he looks like Garrett, there's different things you can do.
“But again, I hate getting too far too far ahead of myself. I just want to see him continue to check the boxes he needs to check, and as we get closer and it feels like, 'Hey, this is a realistic thing now,' then we can kind of figure out what that is.”