Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet appeared to make new progress in his injury rehabilitation Tuesday, raising questions about when the left-hander could return to the mound.
Crochetâs latest step offers another clue about where he stands in the recovery process, but it also raises the bigger question facing Boston as the season moves forward. Just how close is its ace, who in 2025 posted an 18-5 record, 2.59 ERA and MLB-best 255 strikeouts, to coming back and helping the Red Sox in their final push for the postseason?
Reporters at the ballpark caught Crochet playing catch Monday, and NESN posted similar footage Tuesday of the lefty throwing in the Fenway outfield a few hours before first pitch against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Neither the Red Sox nor Crochet has addressed the session in detail, leaving fans and media to speculate on distance, pitch count or how Crochet’s arm felt afterward.
| BOSTON RED SOX STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Ranger Suárez (LHP, #55) • 4-3, 3.25 ERA, 110 K | ||||||||
| August 18, 2026 • Fenway Park, Boston, MA • 7:10 PM EDT | ||||||||
| # | Player | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | Nick Sogard | 2B | S | 0 | 6 | 0 | .248 | .688 |
| 2 | Ceddanne Rafaela | CF | R | 16 | 64 | 16 | .288 | .795 |
| 3 | Wilyer Abreu | RF | L | 22 | 67 | 8 | .259 | .810 |
| 4 | Willson Contreras | 1B | R | 25 | 73 | 3 | .281 | .924 |
| 5 | Adley Rutschman | C | S | 8 | 48 | 0 | .242 | .741 |
| 6 | Caleb Durbin | 3B | R | 12 | 61 | 15 | .257 | .735 |
| 7 | Jarren Duran | LF | L | 16 | 61 | 17 | .203 | .615 |
| 8 | Andruw Monasterio | SS | R | 6 | 36 | 4 | .261 | .751 |
| 9 | Mickey Gasper | DH | S | 1 | 9 | 0 | .241 | .631 |
| Lineups subject to change. | ||||||||
Crochet’s Throwing Session Fits Cautious Rehab Plan
The light work tracks with where Crochet’s throwing program stood as of the most recent public update. Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said August 12 that Crochet remained limited to flat-ground throwing at 60 feet, still gauging how the shoulder responded before advancing him further.
“It’s not a lot,” Tracy said, as quoted by Over The Monster. “It’s been light throwing right now, and see how he continues to react to that before they start backing him up.” .
Crochet had only just resumed throwing in early August, going from a monthslong shutdown to flat-ground catch at 50-to-60 feet, CBS Sports reported. Two short sessions on the Fenway grass mark the earliest phase of a long ramp-up.
| ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Merrill Kelly (RHP, #29) • 8-10, 5.11 ERA, 82 K | ||||||||
| August 18, 2026 • Fenway Park, Boston, MA • 7:10 PM EDT | ||||||||
| # | Player | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | Ildemaro Vargas | 2B | S | 9 | 60 | 3 | .265 | .722 |
| 2 | Corbin Carroll | RF | L | 18 | 57 | 17 | .247 | .832 |
| 3 | Gabriel Moreno | DH | R | 9 | 56 | 4 | .307 | .847 |
| 4 | Geraldo Perdomo | SS | S | 9 | 43 | 17 | .245 | .727 |
| 5 | Tim Tawa | 1B | R | 7 | 29 | 6 | .240 | .686 |
| 6 | Jordan Lawlar | CF | R | 1 | 4 | 4 | .286 | .780 |
| 7 | James McCann | C | R | 4 | 21 | 0 | .297 | .778 |
| 8 | Jose Fernandez | 3B | R | 3 | 15 | 7 | .256 | .641 |
| 9 | Ryan Waldschmidt | LF | R | 2 | 16 | 6 | .272 | .714 |
| Lineups subject to change. | ||||||||
Crochet’s Long Recovery Clouds Timeline
Crochet landed on the injured list April 29 with left shoulder inflammation, ending a six-start run in which he went 3-3 with a 6.30 ERA. He progressed enough to face live hitters in late May, only for lat tightness to shut the program down again. Boston transferred him to the 60-day injured list in early June, and what looked like a mild issue turned into weeks of strengthening work often with weighted plyometric balls rather than a baseball, while the team rebuilt his rotator cuff strength.
Tracy has called a full return to the rotation unlikely. He said it’s probably not feasible for Crochet to build up to six-inning starts before the end of September. Any 2026 appearance, Tracy has indicated, more realistically comes as a multi-inning reliever down the stretch or in October.
“If he’s healthy and right, and he looks like Garrett Crochet, I think we’d be foolish not to consider that,” Tracy said, according to NBC Sports.
Before the injuries, Crochet had turned himself into one of the sport’s most dominant left-handers. Born in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, the 6-foot-6 lefty passed on the Brewers as a 2017 draft pick to attend Tennessee, where the White Sox took him 11th overall in 2020. He debuted that September without ever throwing a minor-league pitch.
Tommy John surgery wiped out most of 2022, but Crochet returned and turned himself into a frontline starter by 2024, adding velocity rather than losing it and earning an All-Star nod. Boston acquired him that December, then signed him to a six-year extension.
Crochet delivered immediately in his first Boston season, across 205.1 innings in 2025. He finished second in AL Cy Young voting behind Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, adding a strong postseason start against the Yankees to his résumé.
Boston remains in the thick of the playoff chase, and every session between now and September moves the club closer to an answer on whether its ace factors into the stretch run at all.
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