Garrett Crochet is in a world he never saw coming.
When the Red Sox ace was placed on the injured list at the end of April with shoulder soreness, his expectation was that it would be simply a 10-day hiccup. Nothing more.
Yet, sitting down for a conversation on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast a day before the return of the Red Sox from the All-Star break, Crochet finds himself in a place he could never have imagined three months ago. He's still not throwing. He's still wondering when he can start throwing. And, most notably, he's wondering what it will even look like when he starts throwing.
With 68 games remaining in the regular season, Crochet finds himself in a race he never thought he would be running ... a race against time.
"I'm in a weird spot, because of that. Because that's my goal," said Crochet regarding his desire to come back and contribute this season. "I don't want to do anything stupid. It's a constant balancing act. It's how aggressively can I push, but while also being smart. In the beginning, I was being very aggressive because I didn't feel like I needed to go on the IL. The longer I sat there, the more I felt like a piece of crap that I wasn't there to help the team. Ultimately, I wound up putting myself in a worse spot. I wouldn't say I put the team in a bad spot because the young guys came up and the pitching staff has been throwing the ball great, and it's really exciting to watch. So I don't want to take that away from them. Of course I want to be out there, but I have got to be smart."
He added, "You still want to make that push to at least return to the mound again, especially with the offseason looming ahead. Who knows if games, when games, will be played. So that would be a further extended period of time being outside a truly competitive MLB game. But we're in it right now. It's tough I'm kind of sitting on my hands. But I also think it's the right thing for the Boston Red Sox as well as myself. Selfishly, I wanted to get back because I wanted to help the team. The team has clearly shown they can survive and thrive. Now we're back in it, I can take a step back and think, how can I help the team? In full transparency, I was not throwing the ball well before going on the IL, although I felt like I was turning a corner. But in order to help the team, I have to be healthy."
Right now, Crochet isn't healthy enough.
Sitting at a table in the back corner of Loco Taqueira after celebrating his personalized Sam Adams-sponsored "Crochet Pale Ale," the pitcher explained how he is "just hammering rotator cuff" exercises, trying to strengthen the areas in and around the shoulder area. As for when he will be getting the go-ahead to actually start throwing again, that still remains to be seen.
"To be honest, I'm not sure just because I'm not there yet," he explained when asked what would be turning point to allow for actual throwing. "You know, we're having conversations every week and evaluations about probably every seven to 10 days, just kind of checking our work and making sure that we're still trending in the right direction. And we've been going that way for a while now. Since stopping plyos, especially, I feel like I've seen drastic gains. But as far as what makes you ready ... I mean, I'm not an athletic trainer, so I don't really know."
The one thing that Crochet and the Red Sox do know is that the importance regarding the pitcher's health extends well beyond the 2026 season.
He is living life in the season of a six-year, $170 million contract that was signed at the beginning of a 2025 campaign in which he ended up finishing second in American League Cy Young balloting. Considering Crochet would be in his free agent season without the deal, the deal would seem to be somewhat of a security blanket. But ... "Who knows though? It's like if I didn't sign the extension, do I throw 205 innings last year? Or do they guard me a little bit more, knowing that I have one more year, and I'm, and then I'm free? You don't know how it goes. The Butterfly effect kind of changes everything." (Note: If Crochet is on the injured list for at least 120 days, the $15 million option for 2032 becomes the club's decision.)
All Crochet knows for sure is the here and the now.
The good news for the pitcher is that there is hope he will be able to return for 2026, and do so on a team that might actually be playing in October.
So, there's that.
"As a clubhouse, we knew that the way we were playing and the way we have been playing are two totally different sides of the coin. Two different coins. We're talking a penny and a quarter. Two different coins," he said. "And at the end of the day, you have to earn the right to prove to ownership and management that you deserve to buy. I think that in the past two weeks, the team is on track to do that."
As good as life has become for the Red Sox, who sit 1/2-game out of a wild card heading into their four-game set with Tampa Bay at Fenway Park, Crochet's importance shouldn't be lost. This is a pitcher, after all, who the team went 23-9 in his starts a season ago, and exhibited ace-like qualities even in his most recent start before going on the IL, pitching six shutout innings in Baltimore on April 25.
But, for now, Crochet and the Red Sox have been forced to take different paths. It remains to be seen if they will once again converge at some point in 2026.
"We need to get the cuff in a good spot before we start throwing again," he said. "That's the mission."
