How Is It Possible That Red Sox’s Medical Staff Can’t Accurately Diagnose Its Own Players?

Boston is one of the premier healthcare cities in the United States.  It’s home to three medical schools. Massachusetts General is regarded as one of the best hospitals in the world. Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center aren’t far behind. Both are elite healthcare institutions in their own right. (Grey's Anatomy taught me all I need to know about medical programs.)

Fenway Park sits 2.2 miles from Mass General's main campus. The Boston Red Sox have access to some of the best doctors in the world, and somehow fans can’t get a clear answer on what’s wrong with the team’s players. Why has the team’s medical staff dropped the ball multiple times in 2026?

Consider the communication surrounding Garrett Crochet, Roman Anthony, and Curtis Mead’s injuries.

Garrett Crochet

On April 29, Garrett Crochet was placed on the 15-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation. Earlier that month, the Minnesota Twins (yes, the Twins) annihilated Crochet, scoring 11 runs off of him (10 earned) across 1 ⅔ innings. Former manager Alex Cora claimed Crochet was healthy. On June 2, Crochet revealed he underwent an MRI and said he was “feeling much better than I was a couple days ago, which is positive, but ultimately just waiting to see what the imaging reveals”. Later that day,  interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters that the MRI showed “a very low-grade lat strain” and said, “Crochet will be able to resume throwing as soon as he is asymptomatic.”

The southpaw subsequently shut down his throwing program for two weeks. Ten days later, Crochet said he thought he was “getting close to throwing”. He continued, “I think we all, you guys included, from the information that I was receiving and relaying to you, wouldn't have expected the shoulder to keep me out as long as it has.” Roughly one week ago, Crochet said it’s up in the air whether he’ll pitch again in 2026, “It’s tough to say, I’m not going to make a claim like that… I understand why you ask the question… it’s just completely different from the original diagnosis”.

He also spoke to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe and said he’s not cleared to throw and that he would need six weeks to build up before throwing again. He lamented, “What the [expletive] is the point of building up the strength now?”

Roman Anthony

On May 4, Roman Anthony tore the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint in his right ring finger. The injury was initially labeled as a right wrist sprain. Post-game, Tracy told reporters, “Imaging tonight was negative, but we are gonna send him back to Boston to see our hand specialist just to let him look at it and make sure… I think the whole point is to get him back with our specialist to see him and see how he is. If everything’s good, we’ll get him back here. But we’ve got to get him back there first.” Later that month, Anthony shut down his hitting program, citing discomfort in his wrist.

In mid-June, he reportedly felt pain after he swung a fungo bat. Anthony was transferred to the 60-day injured list on June 28. In early July, news broke that he moved his rehab program to Fort Myers, Florida.

Curtis Mead

Mead abruptly left Monday’s game after being hit on the hand in his second at-bat with the Red Sox. Post-game, Tracy told reporters, “He’s sore… We’re just going to take it day to day and see how he feels coming in (Tuesday). A little sore but at least right now it looks like we dodged a bullet maybe.” Come Tuesday evening, Tommy Cassell reported that Nick Sogard was being called up from Triple-A Worcester to join the team in Sacramento. The injury is a fractured left wrist, with a recovery time between six and eight weeks depending on the severity of the injury. Alex Speier reported he flew back on Tuesday night to meet with the team’s hand specialist.

The medical equipment in a ballpark isn't up to par with what you'd find at a hospital. Bone injuries, especially small ones, can be tough to spot on an X-ray and take multiple reviews by practitioners. (When I found out that I broke the growth plate in my right shoulder, the doctors had already sent me home from the hospital.) Mead might be the exception here, but that doesn't excuse Crochet's shoulder injury evolving into a lat strain or Roman Anthony's wrist injury becoming a torn CMC joint overnight.

Teams get unlucky with injuries. The funny thing is that the Red Sox aren’t the unluckiest team in baseball. (Check out our sister site, North Side Baseball, if you want to see a team utterly plagued by injuries this season.) Boston ranks sixth on Baseball Prospectus’s Hurt Scale with 12 players. They went on a 15-game win streak sans Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet, the two superstars expected to lead the team to the postseason. What separates the Red Sox is a lack of transparency from the exam room to what players themselves and the public are being told.

The Red Sox need to do better. Three shifting narratives demonstrate a pattern and a lack of transparency. I can’t diagnose whether it starts with the front office or the medical staff, but this is unacceptable from an organization with their resources. Something has to change if they want to maintain credibility with the media and their fans.

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