Chaim Bloom Offers Clarification On Shutdown Red Sox Infielder

The Boston Red Sox looked for Adalberto Mondesi to provide middle infield depth when they acquired him from the Kanas City Royals this offseason.

But that hasn't come to fruition, with the Red Sox instead left waiting for Mondesi to even get on the playing field.

The Red Sox shut down Mondesi from all baseball activities earlier this week as he recoveres from a torn ACL he sustained last April. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom offered clarification to why the organization went that route with Mondesi, noting the 27-year-old didn't suffer an setback.

"It's not that he's had a re-injury or anything like that. It's more that we haven't really been able to get him past that plateau to where we can progress him into game activity," Bloom told MLB.com's Ian Browne prior to Boston's series finale Wednesday night against the Colorado Rockies. "We've been working hard to get strength back in that leg.

"But there's been this recurrent soreness that we haven't really been able to completely knock out. So we've eased off the activity to be able to do that, and hopefully we'll be able to progress it. It's really just getting through that plateau."

It was always expected that Mondesi would miss the start of the season, but he seemed to make strides in spring training as Red Sox manager Alex Cora raved about his athleticism.

It's that athleticism that separated Mondesi apart during his time with the Royals. He led the league in stolen bases during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020 and turned in a strong 2019 campaign in which he batted .263 with nine home runs, 62 RBIs and and 43 steals.

But now the question becomes whether the Red Sox will see any of that from Mondesi this season?

"Yeah, I hope so," Bloom told Browne. "We have to see how this goes. When we have something, when we’re ready to have a game progression, we'll update everybody. We aren't there yet. I don't know a time-table."