Yu Chang was well on his way to establishing himself as an indispensable piece for the Red Sox. He’d brought stability to Boston’s injury-wracked shortstop position and was even beginning to heat up at the plate, ripping three home runs with eight RBI over his prior eight games.
Then with one swing of the bat, all that momentum came to a crashing halt.
Chang suffered a left hamate fracture while swinging during Monday’s 5-4 loss at Baltimore, which is expected to keep him sidelined for six weeks. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Chang acknowledged that the hand injury was a major setback and the timing was particularly painful.
“I felt frustrated, I cried a little bit after I got hurt, why do I hurt now when I’m starting to get into a rhythm and getting better?” Chang said Sunday via translator Patrick Chu. “I feel sad but I need to go through it and keep moving forward.”
The injury occurred right as Chang was finding himself at home, a luxury he’s rarely enjoyed over the past year. In 2022 Chang played for four big league organizations, first being traded from Pittsburgh to Cleveland before twice being designated for assignment and claimed off waivers, first by Tampa Bay and then by Boston.
He was non-tendered by the Red Sox this past offseason but subsequently re-signed as a free agent, but due to his participation in the World Baseball Classic with Chinese Taipei he didn’t wind up joining the club until the last week of spring training.
Still, Chang made the team out of camp and established himself as a viable defensive presence at shortstop before last Monday’s injury. Chang said there was no indication anything was wrong before it happened, and now he needs to focus on his recovery.
“I need to be patient right now,” Chang said. “In order to help the team I need to be healthy and follow all the steps.”
Chang will begin that effort in earnest on Monday, when he’s set to resume conditioning work, and he’ll be further evaluated as the bone heals in the coming weeks.
One silver lining is Chang will now have more time to FaceTime with his family in Taiwan, where his wife just gave birth to their second child earlier this month. But Chang said that’s only a small comfort.
“I do have more time to FaceTime with the baby right now but I’d prefer to play in the game,” Chang said, adding that he hopes his family will be able to join him in Boston at some point down the road.
It’s been three weeks since Adam Duvall fractured his wrist trying to make a diving catch in Detroit on April 9, and since then Duvall’s been in a cast as the break steadily heals.
Multiple casts, it turns out.
Originally rocking a red cast, Duvall’s been spotted around the Red Sox clubhouse this week wearing a green cast. He said Sunday that he’s been getting new casts weekly and that he’ll get another new one on Monday when he undergoes his next X-ray.
The regular turnover has been a nice change for Duvall, who last season was in a cast up past his elbow for 10 straight weeks after undergoing season-ending wrist surgery.
Though there’s still no timetable for his return, the hope is he’ll be able to switch to a removable cast within the next couple of weeks, which will allow him to start rebuilding his strength and range of motion. He would then require a couple of weeks of rehab and baseball activity, but barring any setbacks a return sometime in June seems realistic.
After a shaky week that saw the Red Sox nearly blow a pair of big leads in eventual wins, Boston’s bullpen is getting badly needed help as top setup man Chris Martin (right shoulder inflammation) is being activated from the 15-day injured list.
Fellow right-hander Kaleb Ort, who allowed five runs in 0.1 innings during the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 8-6 win at Baltimore, has been optioned to Worcester. Red Sox pitching coach Dave Bush said Sunday they expect Martin will give the team a big lift and he should slot back right back into the high-leverage situations he was brought to Boston to pitch.
“It’s why we signed him, he’s a big part of the back-end of the bullpen, so having him back and healthy is big for us,” Bush said. “He was pitching well before he got hurt so ideally he picks up where he left off.”
Joely Rodriguez, Boston’s top left-handed reliever who has yet to debut due to an oblique strain, is also nearing a return. Bush said Rodriguez has already thrown live batting practice will start his rehab assignment this week in Florida, with the hope he’ll move up to one of Boston’s minor league affiliates before long.
“Don’t know [how many] yet, at least a few, I don’t want to put a number on it but like most things it requires evaluating how he recovers appearance to appearance but it should start this week,” Bush said.
Bush also said closer Kenley Jansen is dealing with lower back tightness, which affected the way he threw during Saturday’s blown save. He is considered day to day, as is Kiké Hernández, who is battling a sore ankle and was out of the lineup for the second straight day on Sunday.
There are no updates on Garrett Whitlock (right elbow ulnar neuritis), who Bush said is being evaluated daily. There are still no plans for imaging or an MRI, but they need the discomfort to die down before he can resume throwing.