It has been 24 games of the 2026–2027 season, and the Boston Red Sox have already been dealing with injuries to their pitching staff. It is a very scary sight, especially since it was a similar sight last season with all the injuries that started to pile up.

My Hottest Take: Injuries Should Not Be as Much of a Factor as Last Year

Last year, it felt like left, right, and center the Red Sox pitchers were going down with injuries. The biggest and most glaring injury of last year that is being felt this year as well is the injury to Tanner Houck, who has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow as well as a right flexor pronator strain. This injury is keeping him out of the 2026 campaign more likely than not. The other injuries are still serious, but there is enough depth on the farm for those who are injured this season, like Justin Slaten, Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford, and Patrick Sandoval.

What You Should Know: Only One Injury Is Serious

Well, all injuries are serious. But so far, only one injury has landed that pitcher on the 60-day injured list, and that injury is to Johan Oviedo, who suffered that injury after just one start with the Red Sox. Oviedo was coming off of Tommy John surgery. After his outing, he met with the doctor who performed the surgery, and the doctor found a right flexor strain and shut him down from throwing for six weeks. This is the reason why he was placed on the 60-Day injured list, which also opened up his roster spot, allowing Jack Anderson to be selected to the 40-man roster.

The other injury that hurts is the one to Justin Slaten. He was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right oblique strain. He should be back by the end of April, which would be helpful given the way the Red Sox have seemed to turn the 2–8 start around. His injury was not considered to be serious, which means he can get back to throwing soon and see how things work out.

Sandoval is rehabbing a UCL repair in his left arm, which is his throwing arm. Crawford is rehabbing a wrist tear that happened in a non-baseball incident.

Before You Go: Patrick Sandoval and Kutter Crawford Should Be Coming Soon

Once these two get up to the majors, the bullpen will have more help than before. Sandoval started for the Worcester Red Sox last Tuesday against the Nashville Sounds. His expected return is May; when in May and where on the roster he will fit in is yet to be seen, but if the rotation continues to stumble, he might be able to find himself starting.

Crawford had started his rehab assignment, but after a rough start on April 11, he was shut down due to elbow soreness. Crawford suffered from a right wrist subsheath tear and was placed on the 15-day IL on March 25.

It will be an interesting take to see how the Red Sox play around with the roster once all these pitchers are healthy once again; the only one that is going to need a roster spot, luckily, is Oviedo, since he was sent to the 60-day injured list.