BOSTON -- In his full home white uniform, Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet took his most significant step since his placement on the injured list when he threw a 20-pitch side session off the mound at Fenway Park prior to Wednesday’s game against the Phillies.
“That's a good step there,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy.
While it’s just one of a few steps Crochet will have to take before he is on a mound for a game, it was still notable given the power lefty’s importance to his team, which is off to a 17-24 start entering Wednesday.
“Obviously touching the mound when rehabbing is always a good step,” said Crochet, who was shut down with shoulder inflammation on April 29. “Got to keep building. It’s taking a little bit longer than I had originally hoped, but today was a good day.”
Crochet is aiming to throw a two-inning side session this weekend when he accompanies the team to Atlanta, and perhaps a live batting practice session after that.
Originally, Crochet thought he would return to the Red Sox on the first game he was eligible, which was Tuesday.
Now, he is taking a more measured approach. That said, he hopes to avoid a Minor League rehab assignment so he can get back to the front of Boston’s rotation as soon as possible.
Righty Sonny Gray recently did the same after missing the minimum 15 days with a right hamstring strain.
“No, as of right now, I don’t intend on taking one,” said Crochet of the rehab assignment. “Those decisions are kind of above me, but I hope I won’t need one. We're trying to win games, so I'd rather not waste innings on a rehab assignment when I feel like I can contribute.”
The Red Sox will wait before making that decision.
“I think it's similar to Sonny,” said Tracy. “We have to talk to him about that. I think it also depends on how much longer does it go, and where do we feel like he’s at? And then us as a group with Garrett, talking about if we think we can sustain a shorter start here and build him here, or do we want to do it there? We’ll have to get together as a group to decide.”
Why has this injury taken a little longer to recover from than Crochet expected?
“I was able to finish that sixth inning in Baltimore [in my last start],” said Crochet. “So I think I was up to [97 mph] in that inning. So it was like, ‘Man, I guess it's just minor, and hopefully, I won’t even have to go on the IL.’ But ultimately I did and I guess for a bit longer than I had hoped.”
That said, Crochet is maximizing his down time by strengthening his shoulder and correcting the mechanics he believes led to the injury.
“[The shoulder] feels a lot better,” Crochet said. “Obviously it was weird. It was kind of just bad mechanics that led to compromising my shoulder. So it's a mix of the two right now, trying to clean up my mechanics while also getting the shoulder back to feeling good.”
What has the treatment entailed?
“A lot of stability at end range,” said Crochet. “That’s always pretty important. I've always been described as a loose, loose guy. So, I’ve always had hyper mobile joints. So it's almost intentionally distracting from the joint and strengthening in that phase.”
While Crochet wants to be back as soon as anyone, and he is fully aware that Red Sox fans feel the same way, he knows that skipping steps to come back before is ready would be the definition of counterproductive.
Crochet admits he was down when he first realized he wouldn’t reach his original target date.
“I felt like we tried to do that early on and I feel like that it puts you in a weird space mentally, if you don't meet it,” Crochet said. “It makes you feel like you’re letting your team down. But, just trying to get back to getting healthy so then I can help.
“That’s ultimately kind of my viewpoint right now. It’s not as quick as you can get back. It’s as quick as I can get back and be useful. Me coming back at 40 percent health isn't going to do a whole lot to help this team start making up ground in the division.”