Alex Cora Gives Promising Update On Forgotten Red Sox Pitcher

Nobody on the Boston Red Sox pitching staff last season made as many starts as Kutter Crawford.

Crawford has yet to make an appearance on the mound this season, but that could change in the near future.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters prior to Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels that Crawford is expected to begin a rehab assignment later this week, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith. Crawford has been on the injured list since the start of the season due to right patellar tendinopathy.

It’s actually an injury Crawford pushed through last season. He injured his knee in his third start covering first base. But the 29-year-old righthander still made 33 starts to be a solid contributor in the back end of the starting rotation. Crawford led the Red Sox with 183 2/3 innings pitched while posting a 4.36 ERA and 1.12 WHIP.

“I think if you look at his season overall, it was a solid one,” Cora told reporters at the end of last season. “Just a kid that he understands how to pitch, uses both sides of the plate, he goes up, he can go down and he’s a guy that we expect him to keep getting better. He’s been good for us.”

According to Smith, Crawford worked his way up to tossing four innings of live batting practice in Fort Myers. That will give him a good foundation to build off of as he begins the next phase of his recovery with the big leagues seemingly not too far away.

The Red Sox could make room for Crawford in a crowded rotation by giving him the spot currently occupied by Richard Fitts, who got shelled by the Angels on Monday.