WEST SACRAMENTO – Less than 24 hours after Curtis Mead made his debut with the Red Sox, the dangerous right-handed hitter was shut down indefinitely on Tuesday with a fractured left wrist sustained in his second at-bat with his new team.
For Mead, the misfortune was hard to put into words.
"Yeah, challenging. Super disappointing. It doesn't feel real, happening in my first game [with the Red Sox]. There will be a break in between the next one," said Mead.
Mead was placed on the 10-day injured list prior to Tuesday’s game. Infielder Nick Sogard was recalled from Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding move.
However, Mead knows he’ll miss far more than 10 days. A best-case scenario for a fracture to heal is typically four to six weeks.
Asked if he thinks he will play again this season, Mead said, “Yeah, I hope so.”
The 25-year-old infielder will take a red-eye flight home on Tuesday and visit with a team hand specialist on Wednesday.
In the top of the fourth inning of Monday’s 4-2 win by the Red Sox, Mead was drilled on the left wrist with a 94.9 mph fastball from righty Jack Perkins. He wound up exiting in the bottom of the fifth inning. Initial X-rays came back negative, but an MRI on Tuesday morning revealed the fracture.
“I woke up pretty stiff and sore,” said Mead. “Had a history in ’23 where the X-rays were negative, and then got an MRI [which revealed a break]. So yeah, when I woke up today and it didn't feel a whole lot better, it felt like it was the best next step.”
Mead said it’s unclear at this time if he’ll need surgery, and he should gain more clarity in Wednesday’s visit with the specialist.
For the Red Sox, it was jarring to be welcoming Mead to the fold one day and losing him the next.
“Tough, especially for the kid,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “He got here, he’s a player we like. You could tell he was excited to be here. You could tell the guys embraced him, and we were ready to kind of live life with him in the lineup, and then that happened to him.”
The good news is that Mead isn’t a rental acquisition. He isn’t eligible for free agency until 2031.
“So, more than anything, you feel for him having to go through that,” said Tracy. “But he’s a player that we should have for a while, so that's the important thing, to get him healthy and get him back.”
A former top prospect with the Rays who struggled to find his footing in his first three seasons in the Majors, Mead came to the Red Sox in the midst of a career year, in which he belted 17 homers with an .852 OPS in 87 games with the Nats. The plan was that he would bat second and play second base while helping Boston’s postseason push.
The injury to Mead followed an unfortunate script for the Red Sox, in which they’ve lost one middle infielder after another this season. First, it was veteran shortstop Trevor Story going down with a sports hernia injury on May 15. About a month later, Isiah Kiner-Falefa suffered a stress reaction in his left forearm. And days later, Marcelo Mayer went down with a less severe version of the same injury.
All of those players remain out with no clear timetable to return, though Story appears to be on the fastest track, eyeing a Minor League rehab assignment at some point in August.
The ailments haven’t been limited to the infield. Ace Garrett Crochet hasn’t pitched since April 25, and it’s iffy whether he will return this season. Outfielder Roman Anthony, thought to be a blossoming star coming into the season, suffered a partially torn tendon in his right ring finger on May 4 and hasn’t swung a bat for months.
Through it all, the Red Sox have come together as a team over the last month, ripping off a recent 15-game winning streak and riding a 23-4 stretch into Tuesday’s game against the Athletics that had them in possession of the second AL Wild Card spot.
“Big picture, you feel terrible for them,” said Tracy. “But you guys know me. My mind goes to, OK, we're gonna pivot back to the team that won 15 in a row together, and 20 out of 23, and we're gonna go play baseball and win a game tonight.”
Meanwhile, Mead had to pack his bags and go back East right after he hurriedly joined his new team following a late Saturday night trade with the Nationals for lefty Connelly Early.
“It's challenging,” said Mead. “Definitely, mentally challenging. I came here to play and be with the group down the stretch. So yeah, it's definitely disappointing. But I’m hopeful that I can be back soon.”