BOSTON — Nearly six weeks after undergoing wrist surgery that ended his 2025 season before it started, Red Sox right-hander Kutter Crawford was back at Fenway Park on Friday and revealed the mysterious activity that led to his injury.
Crawford, who had already missed the first three months of the year due to patellar tendinopathy in his right knee when he hurt his wrist, said the latest setback was the result of household maintenance gone wrong.
“Just doing some pretty standard maintenance around the house,” Crawford said. “I was outside moving some stuff, I went to move something and it got hung up and turned my wrist the other way. I felt a subtle pop.
“When it happened, I had that gut instinct. I kind of felt a pop. I could still squeeze my fist and everything but when I tried to move a certain way, my body didn’t like it.”
Crawford, who was ramping up at the club’s complex in Fort Myers and felt like he was close to returning, told trainers at Boston’s spring training complex that he needed to have scans on the wrist. Throwing was painful and doctors recommended season-ending surgery. On July 2 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Crawford had a procedure to “reconstruct the stabilizing sheath of the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) in his right wrist,” according to the team. All because of an accident at his home in southwest Florida.
“You make an investment, you try to take care of your investment and it bit me in the ass,” Crawford said.
Crawford, who led the Red Sox in starts (33) and innings (183 ⅔) in a solid 2024 season, showed up to spring training still battling the effects of the knee issue, which had bothered him throughout last year. Because it didn’t get better as the spring progressed, he began the year on the injured list and remained in Fort Myers. By late June, he had faced hitters in live batting practice sessions at Fenway South on numerous occasions. Crawford was one live session away from a rehab assignment when the wrist injury — which separated the sub-sheath, causing a tendon to move over a bone — occurred.
“It has been tough,” said Crawford. “I was really close to starting a rehab assignment before I had this incident with the wrist. It was the day before my last BP and I was supposed to start a rehab assignment. It has been difficult. It has been frustrating. But I’m trying to do everything I can to prepare and get my body and my mind in the best spot possible for when I do take the mound again.”
The rest, Crawford said, has helped his knee feel much better. He hopes to start throwing by October and have a full offseason before coming to spring training fully healthy.
“The knee is in a really good spot,” Crawford said. “My knee feels better than it has in probably three or four years, so I’m very optimistic about that and hopefully will have no issues next year with that.
“Things are going good, all things considered. The rest of the body’s feeling good.”
Crawford, who owns a 4.56 ERA in 86 big league appearances (69 starts) since debuting in 2021, figured to factor into a crowded rotation mix that also projected — at the start of camp — to include Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Walker Buehler, Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito. Season-ending injuries to Crawford, Houck, Hunter Dobbins and rehabbing lefty Patrick Sandoval have depleted the group which now includes Crochet, Buehler, Bello, Giolito and newcomer Dustin May with depth options Richard Fitts, Kyle Harrison and Cooper Criswell pitching at Triple-A.
Crawford was expected to pitch meaningful innings for the Red Sox in 2025 but instead has spent the entire year as a spectator. He’ll get the chance to do that in person throughout the homestand before returning home to Florida. The 29-year-old hopes to return to Boston for a potential playoff run if the Sox make it.
“I take pride in being healthy and available and grabbing the ball every fifth day and competing to the best of my ability,” he said. “It’s been frustrating to not be able to go out there and compete and go to battle with my teammates day in and day out.”
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