Pitching At A Premium: Do the Red Sox Have Enough to Survive Crochet’s Shoulder Injury?

When the report came out Wednesday morning that OF/3B Nate Eaton was being recalled to the big-league club, Boston Red Sox fans were curious as to what the corresponding move would be. There were no signs of injury from Boston’s outfielders or the likes of Willson Contreras or Marcelo Mayer, who had both been banged up in the Toronto series — Contreras fouling a ball off his toe in game one, and Mayer tweaking his wrist on a tag at second in game two. 

As first pitch inched closer though, everyone’s worst fears were confirmed as it was Garrett Crochet who would be heading for a 15-day IL stint thanks to left shoulder inflammation, leaving an already inconsistent rotation without its ace who had seemingly turned things around in Boston’s 17-1 win over Baltimore after back-to-back rough outings. While Crochet told reporters he “began to feel some fatigue in his shoulder during his Saturday outing in Baltimore and is pretty confident he’ll be back in Boston’s rotation when he’s eligible in about two weeks,” per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo and Christopher Smith, this is an injury the already spiraling Red Sox team can’t afford to take lightly.

The concern is already there for the Red Sox ace, but ramps up significantly when you learn this isn’t the first time he’s dealt with this type of injury. As Section 10 and 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Tyler Milliken wrote on X, “Crochet had a cortisone shot in that left shoulder due to inflammation in 2023. He had a setback during the rehab [and] ended up being out from June 15th to September 22nd.” Hopefully, the timeline for Crochet’s return is closer to his believed two weeks, rather than the three months he dealt with previously.  

With Crochet now on the shelf, the question isn’t just who the Red Sox turn to, it’s who can they realistically rely on his absence? Below is a look at the five arms Boston will need to lean on until Crochet returns and a ranking of how confident they and fans should be in their abilities to rise to the occasion. 

Honorable Mention: Sonny Gray. It is worth noting that Gray will eventually be returning from his hamstring injury suffered on Patriots Day and when he does, that will surely help to enhance Boston’s rotation with a veteran leader that will be missed in Crochet’s absence. Until then though, we’ll be sticking with the five sure options the Red Sox currently have at their disposal.

Ranking Confidence in Red Sox's Best Starters Without Garrett Crochet

5. Brayan Bello 

2026 Stats: 6 starts, 1-4, 9.12 ERA, 25.2 IP, 17 SO, 15 BB, 2.26 WHIP, .374 AVG 

Any hopes of a Brayan Bello turnaround under new manager Chad Tracy may have been dashed away Wednesday afternoon as he struggled again, allowing four earned runs on six hits while walking and striking out two over 3.2 innings pitched, and was visibly upset after getting the hook from Tracy after just 63 pitches and not being allowed to face Toronto’s lineup a third time through. 

Where Bello excels is getting hitters to swing-and-miss and put the ball on the ground, with whiff and ground ball rates both in the 86th percentile, both elite showings for a sinker-baller such as himself. It's there where his biggest problem lies, though, as it feels like start to start Bello is struggling to determine what other pitches in his repertoire he wants to attack hitters with. He’s essentially turned himself into a two- or three-pitch pitcher, with a mix of: sinker (42%), cutter (26%), changeup (12%), sweeper (10%), curveball (7%), four-seamer (3%).

Bello has the capabilities to step up right now; heck, he was arguably their second-best starter behind Crochet just last season. But where Bello’s struggles may stem from, the mental aspect of his game, something that was thought to be figured out a year ago but is trending backward this year, raises concerns about his reliability moving forward.

4. Jake Bennett 

2026 Stats (AAA): 5 starts, 2-1, 0.86 ERA, 21.0 IP, 16 SO, 3 BB, 0.71 WHIP, .162 AVG    

Red Sox fans won’t have to wait long to see if Jake Bennett can fill the void left by Crochet as he’s slated to start Friday’s series opener against the Astros, a spot that originally was Crochet’s before the injury announcement. 

In five starts for Worcester this season, Bennett has been dominant, holding opposing hitters to a .162/.215/.176/.391 slash line while also constantly attacking hitters, owning a 5.33 K/BB and 0.71 WHIP. The key question is how Bennett will attack hitters at the big league level as he has been operating with a five pitch mix that includes a sinker (26.5% usage, four-seamer (25.4%), changeup (20.9%), curveball (13.4%) and cutter (13.1%) with varied velocity across that mix. 

As the Red Sox look for reinforcements to hold things down while Crochet is out, the hope is Bennett can follow the example of fellow young southpaws Payton Tolle and Connelly Early who have quickly found their footing in Boston. I think he can give them some more consistency than Bello has shown to be capable of so far, which is why he’s slotted ahead of the right-hander on this list.

3. Payton Tolle

2026 Stats: 2 starts, 0-1, 3.38 ERA, 10.2 IP, 15 SO, 5 BB, 1.03 WHIP, .162 AVG 

Speaking of Payton Tolle, he’s had a bit of a Jekyll-and-Hyde start to his 2026 campaign. After dominating the Yankees in his season debut to a tune of 11 strikeouts, one walk, three hits, and one earned run over six strong innings and 93 pitches, he followed that up with a less-than-stellar outing allowing three earned runs on three hits, four walks, and four strikeouts over 4.2 innings and 68 pitches against the Blue Jays. 

When it comes to looking the part in Crochet’s absence, the 6’6”, 250lb lefty has that more than covered. In terms of matching the nastiness that Crochet usually brings on a nightly basis however, Tolle will need to tap back into what made him so successful in that first Yankees start: not being afraid to pound the strike zone. That's what gets swings and misses, and that is what has led to his elite 35.7 K% (97th percentile) and 34.2 Whiff% (92nd percentile). Continuing to utilize his more balanced pitch arsenal that no longer relies solely on the four-seamer as it did a season ago (usage down from 64% in 25’ to 52% in 26’) will keep hitters guessing on how he might attack them.

2. Connelly Early

2026 Stats: 6 starts, 2-1, 2.84 ERA, 31.2 IP, 28 SO, 14 BB, 1.20 WHIP, .212 AVG 

If Tolle will be tasked with bringing the fire and raw emotion that Crochet pitches with on a nightly basis, then Connelly Early will complement that with his finesse and solid command style of pitching. 

While Early’s Baseball Savant page won’t blow you away, as he currently sits at either league average, or slightly below league average, in practically evert category, what stands out is that he has already shown in his short MLB career that he knows how to lock in and make the big pitches when he needs to and never appears to be overwhelmed by the situation.

Crochet’s ability to slow the game down and keep his composure in a big spot may be an underlying aspect of his game that will be missed by Boston in order to keep innings from snowballing on them. However, if Early can continue to tap into that skillset of his own, something that Sox fans will remember was on display during last year’s AL Wild Card Round in Yankee Stadium, it may go a long way to helping keep this rotation afloat.

1. Ranger Suárez 

2026 Stats: 6 starts, 2-2, 3.09 ERA, 35.0 IP, 29 SO, 9 BB, 0.94 WHIP, .197 AVG

The obvious choice to step in and take the reins of the rotation while Crochet is out is undoubtedly Ranger Suárez, who has started to look the part of a co-ace after his rocky start in Boston. Since his two clunkers against Houston and San Diego to start the year (8.64 ERA, .371 BA, 13.0 K%, 8.0 BB%, 47.0 HardHit%), Suárez has looked like every bit of the pitcher the Red Sox expected him to be when brought him in to be the number two option behind Crochet. 

Suárez has managed a quality start in three out of his last four outings, only allowing four earned runs over 26.2 innings pitched while managing to hold hitters to a feeble .126 average. Factor in a 26 K%, 6 BB% and HardHit% of 34%, and you have a verified stud on the mound.

What has made him more effective during this stretch is his willingness to stray away from being so sinker (29% usage) and changeup (19%) heavy as he was his first couple of starts which seemingly made him slightly too predictable. He's starting to trust his excellent secondary offerings including his cutter (20%), four-seamer (17%) and curveball (14%), all of which have continued to see upticks in usage over his last four starts. 

While a Crochet injury obviously isn’t an ideal situation to be dealing with, especially given how the Red Sox season has already gone so far, Suárez is more than capable of leading the starting five in his absence.