BOSTON -- Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras is recovering nicely from the right hand contusion he suffered in Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Rays. Though he was out of the lineup for Tuesday’s opener against the Phillies, Contreras participated in baseball activities prior to the contest and gave a thumb’s up when asked if he would start on Wednesday.
“He’s OK, he's doing a lot better,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “Still a little sore, but he got treatment. He was able to hit in the cage. He's probably going to go out and hit some BP today. We're hopeful we're going to be OK there. But just felt like today was a day to get a little bit more rest and make sure that he gets through all that and feels good. He's doing activities right now, and he's going to do some more in a little bit.”
The case can be made that Contreras has been the best all-around hitter on the Red Sox this season. Entering Tuesday's action, his .847 OPS ranked second on the team behind Wilyer Abreu (.850) and Contreras led the club in homers (eight) and RBIs (23).
At this point, Boston needs all the offense it can get. Not only has the club struggled to score for most of the season, but Roman Anthony is on the 10-day injured list until at least Friday with a right wrist sprain.
Anthony remains in a brace and hasn’t done any baseball activities since suffering the injury on May 4 in Detroit.
“Roman’s improving. Just small, incremental improvements,” said Tracy. “And we'll just keep going until we get to the point where we feel like we're in a good spot. He’s mostly strengthening and eventually we'll get to strong gripping. The biggest thing for him is going to be, when do we get to feel like the grip strength is there? When we get there, we’re in a better spot. That’s what they’re focusing on.”
Strictly from a progression standpoint thus far, it seems a reach that Anthony would be ready to return when he is first eligible on Friday night in Atlanta, but Tracy wasn’t ready to rule it out entirely.
“It's hard to say,” said Tracy. “I can’t answer that because it's something that if it improves quickly, he hasn't been out that long, and maybe he would feel comfortable with that. So really, the best answer for that is we just get to see when this grip strength gets there. Once he gets that, is he able to get in the cage and swing and feel good about it? We'll see what timeline we're on there before we can answer that.”
Ace Garrett Crochet also remains out of action for the Sox, as he’s been on the injured list since April 29 (retroactive to April 26) with left shoulder inflammation.
Tuesday was the first day Crochet was eligible to be activated, but that won’t be in play until he progresses to a bullpen session and at least one live batting practice.
He has made strong progress in recent days.
“Progressing,” said Tracy. “... He threw out to 120 [feet]. I can date back to Sunday when he threw out to 120 and actually got on the mound. ... It was catch play off the mound, call it 10 [throws of catch] on the mound, all of which felt good. So we continue to progress well there."