Garrett Crochet Injury Update And Fantasy Replacement After Red Sox Ace Lands On IL

An injury update on Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet, and what fantasy owners should do without him.

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

It's been a rough season for the Boston Red Sox, who are currently sitting in last place in the AL East and have recently fired their manager, Alex Cora. Things just got even worse for the Red Sox, who just saw the ace of their pitching staff, Garrett Crochet, land on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation.

Crochet spoke about what he's dealing with and the next steps he needs to take to get back to full strength.

“Just some fatigue I was feeling in my last start,” Crochet said. “I was able to grind through it there at the end, but it makes more sense to get ahead of now, so I’m not playing catch-up the rest of the season...

Just building up strength in the shoulder [and] continuing to check those boxes. At the end of the day, [I] feel like it was something preventable, but during [Spring Training], lost strength and never really got it back.”

The Red Sox's new interim manager, Chad Tracy, also spoke about the hope of Crochet returning after the 15 days are up and his plan for his next scheduled start on Friday.

“I think that’s the hope,” Tracy said. “Especially because of the fact that he’s been able to continue to throw over the last couple days, and it was moreso like, ‘Is he going to bounce back from this, or is it going to linger?’ ... We’ll see how he responds, but I think everybody feels confident that’s going to be the case...

Obviously, with [Jack Bennett] not pitching, he’s an option. But we’re going to talk about it after the game, going into tomorrow, and decide what we’re going to do there. So we have not decided [on Friday’s starter] yet.”

Fantasy Impact

P Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox

The fantasy impact of this injury will depend on the severity of it. If he's only out for 15 days, retroactive to last Sunday, then all you need is a short-term spot start for two or three starts. This could be the best-case scenario if Crochet gets his shoulder right, because he has not been very good this season. He's currently sitting at 3-3 with a 6.30 ERA. This is projected to be by far the worst season of his career based on what we've seen so far this season.

P Jack Bennett, Boston Red Sox

It seems likely that Bennett will get the start on Friday in place of Crochet. Not only do we have the comments from Tracy, but Bennett was also scratched from his scheduled Triple-A start on Tuesday. He's ranked as the team's No. 6 prospect, so if he has a great game, he could become a fixture on the pro level.

Bennett could definitely be worth an add to see how this stint in the majors goes for him. He could potentially be a league-winning type hidden gem if he lives up to or exceeds expectations.

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