Red Sox left-hander Chris Murphy could be out for the entire season.

The southpaw underwent an MRI on Monday after experiencing elbow discomfort, and imaging showed ligament damage. On Wednesday, MassLive reported that Murphy will undergo further testing for what could be a high-grade tear in his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).

Surgery is the likely outcome, though not necessarily Tommy John, which would sideline Murphy for the entire ’24 season and into the ’25 campaign.

Murphy, 25, debuted with the Sox last season. He appeared in 20 games, and posted a 4.91 ERA, 3.70 FIP, and 1.406 WHIP over 47 2/3 total innings. His debut season was stronger than the ERA indicates. Though command could be shaky at times – he walked 8.0% of batters faced – he was strong by various metrics, including striking out 23.1% of his batters, just better than the 22.7% league average. He was also above-average at limiting home runs (2.4%) and inducing soft contact, in general; his 33.1% hard-hit rate was nearly 6% below league average.

Despite the small sample size, Murphy was expected to be one of the club’s top depth arms this season. Instead, he’s one of several pitchers around the league who will miss significant time, if not the entire year. It’s a significant blow for the Sox, who didn’t acquire as much big-league pitching depth as leadership stated they needed during the offseason.