Red Sox's Garrett Crochet Situation Just Got Much More Puzzling

The Boston Red Sox star is on the Injured List and seemingly conflicting information surfaced on Wednesday.

Feb 26, 2026; Fort Myers, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet (35) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at JetBlue Park at Fenway South. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox need Garrett Crochet on the mound for the organization to be at its best.

Unfortunately, Crochet hasn't been able to pitch in a game since April 25 and as of right now, there's no way to know when his next outing will be. On Wednesday, some negative information dropped about the lefty. Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reported that Crochet's lat strain is "a lot worse" than the club initially thought. That's not all, though. Included in Abraham's reporting was a quote from Crochet saying he has "no idea" when he's going to be able to take the mound again for the organization.

That's obviously not great. But it got even more confusing afterward. MassLive.com's Christopher Smith followed up and reported chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said his understanding is that Crochet's making "good progress" in his recovery and that there's nothing new with the severity of the injury itself.

The Red Sox Ace Is On The Shelf

Apr 13, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet (35) delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

"Chad Tracy said today there was no update with Garrett Crochet but that he was progressing," Smith wrote. "I sent a text to Craig Breslow to ask him to clarify Crochet’s situation given the report about his lat strain being worse than initially thought. ...

Breslow responded saying, 'My understanding is that like Chad said, Garrett continues to make good progress with the lat strain.' I then asked - so there’s nothing new in terms of severity? And he replied, 'Correct.'"

Like every major injury this season, this situation is a bit off. On one hand, a prominent insider reported that the injury is worse than the team initially expected and Crochet said he doesn't know when he will be able to return. On the other hand, Breslow said that his understanding is that he's making progress and there's nothing new.

So, what's the true story here? There's a world in which both of these updates are correct. When the Red Sox got the results from Crochet's MRI, it was shared that he has a "very low-grade" lat strain. With Abraham reporting that the news was worse than initially expected, maybe the club simply didn't publicly say how bad it was. Breslow said there's nothing new in terms of severity, which could mean one of two things: either there isn't a negative update, or the club simply knew the severity of the injury, whether they said it publicly or not.

All in all, it's another weird injury update from an organization that has been providing them all season. For Crochet, you hope it's more Breslow at face value and that the lefty is progressing and there's nothing new with the injury being worse than expected. Right now, what's really important is getting Crochet back on the mound, but it sounds like that isn't happening any time soon.