Red Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet indicates return before All-Star break would be unlikely

Garrett Crochet’s path back to the Red Sox rotation is trending longer rather than shorter, with the left-hander telling reporters Friday that a return before the All-Star break is unlikely. Speaking in interviews that were reported by ’s Chris Cotillo and other local media, Crochet said it would take a “huge leap” to suggest he would be back before the break, and he added that doing so would likely be “really rushing it.”

Crochet’s comments center on the practical reality of a rehab process after a lat strain. According to the report, his recovery had involved a progression toward throwing, but the setback has required his rehabilitation to be effectively restarted. That matters because timing for pitchers is often less about hope and more about completed milestones, including ramp-up and workload-building stages that are designed to avoid flare-ups and late-career wear in the first place.

Boston is attempting to manage that uncertainty in the present tense. Crochet is a premium piece of a rotation built around innings, matchup planning, and bullpen workload management, so even a temporary absence forces a chain reaction across the staff. When a left-handed starter is out, managers typically have to shuffle starters, stretch relievers into additional long relief windows, and potentially lean on swing options from Triple-A sooner than they otherwise would during a tight first-half schedule.

While Crochet did not provide a firm return date in the reported conversations, the way he framed the timeline suggests the team should not plan on a mid-July return. The All-Star break is often used as a useful benchmark for “getting back on track” for pitchers, but Crochet’s view implies that his rehab will need more time to reach a safe pitch-count and intensity level rather than merely being able to throw at controlled effort.

The development also underscores how difficult it is to separate a pitcher's “feeling okay” stage from a “ready to face hitters” stage. For lat injuries in particular, pitchers and teams tend to be cautious because the strain can be influenced by sudden increases in intensity, mechanics, or even the difference between throwing for distance and throwing through higher-velocity sessions. Resetting the process after a lat strain, as described in the report, indicates a cautious approach rather than a schedule-driven one.

For Red Sox fans and the organization, the immediate question becomes how Boston will cover the innings gap and keep the rest of the rotation from becoming overextended. The longer Crochet stays off the mound, the more the team will be forced to make choices about which starters can deliver consistent outings, and which bullpen arms can handle the spillover created by fewer scheduled starts.

What to watch next is whether Crochet’s rehab can move through the earlier stages without another interruption and whether the organization will offer updates that include completed milestones, not just subjective progress. Until then, the most reliable planning assumption is that Crochet’s return, if it comes soon at all, will be later than what a midseason target would normally suggest.