Red Sox Demote Young Hurler After Strong Start To Make Room For Garrett Whitlock

Boston made the move many anticipated

Scott Neville | Apr 11, 2023

Red Sox Demote Young Hurler After Strong Start To Make Room For Garrett Whitlock /

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox made the first step toward retooling their pitching staff as some of their top hurlers are close to a return.

In the process, Boston elected to send down a promising young arm over the likes of Ryan Brasier and Kaleb Ort -- but there is a method to the madness.

"With Garrett Whitlock set to come off the injured list and make his season debut Tuesday night against the Rays, the Red Sox have optioned righty starter Kutter Crawford to Triple-A Worcester," MassLive's Chris Cotillo wrote Tuesday.

Crawford was roughed up badly in his first start of the season but settled in nicely for the second trip around the rotation.

The 27-year-old allowed just one earned run on five hits with six strikeouts and zero walks against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday -- a performance that would propel the Red Sox to a 4-1 win and series sweep.

Many questioned the decision to send down Crawford with Brasier on the roster, but the move makes sense. While the idea of slotting Crawford into a low-leverage bullpen role over Brasier is appealing, it would put the oft-injured rotation in a bad spot.

Josh Winckowski has been converted to a long-relief role -- where he has dominated early on. With that in mind, Crawford needs to be stretched out in Worcester in order for the team to have a spot starter when needed.

The Red Sox have Bryan Mata, Chris Murphy and Brandon Walter waiting in the wings but none have proven to be fully ready for Major League Baseball.

Keeping Crawford stretched out makes sense, even if it does keep Brasier on the roster just a while longer.

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Published Apr 11, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu