Red Sox Outfielder Tyler O’Neill Opens Up About Serious Injury

Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill has dealt with injuries more than he’s wanted to in the past.

But the injury O’Neill sustained Monday when he collided in the outfield with Rafael Devers was unlike any other in his career.

O’Neill confirmed following Boston’s 5-4 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday that he suffered a concussion on the play and that brought on a series of issues the 28-year-old dealt with in his recovery.

“I’ve had a lot of dizziness. Still fighting through that a little bit,” O’Neill told reporters. “A lot of fogginess first couple of days. Slow to think. It took me a little bit to recover from that. But feeling better now. So, feel like I’m on the right path. Just working through the last stages of lightheadedness and just a little bit more fatigue than I’m used to. But I’m thinking better now and feel like I’m on the right track.”

O’Neill has stayed away from baseball activities in recent days but got on an exercise bike with Red Sox training staff monitoring to see how he responded to that physical activity. O’Neill said he will travel with the Red Sox on their upcoming six-game road trip, which starts against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, and hopes to ramp things up.

The Red Sox placed O’Neill on the 7-day injured list Thursday with a retroactive date of April 16. That means O’Neill, who was Boston’s hottest hitter with a .313 batting average and seven home runs, could return at the earliest by next Tuesday.

And O’Neill certainly thinks coming back by then is well within reason.

“That’s the goal for me, for sure,” O’Neill said. “I want to be ready. I want to be back out there in uniform with these guys. I want to play with these guys. There’s nothing worse than being sidelined in this sport and I’ve had my fair share unfortunately, but I got to get healthy first. I’ve never had a concussion or anything like this before, so it’s all new to me, learning as I go. I’m just trying to manage the symptoms as best I can.”