WASHINGTON — With his season workload at 60 appearances and 66 1/3 innings pitched, in high leverage opportunities including closer role responsibilities for the first time in his career, right-hander Gregory Santos is calling it a season.
The hard-throwing 24-year-old who was acquired in a minor trade last offseason after being designated for assignment by the Giants and ascended to ninth-inning duty with closer Liam Hendriks lost for most of the season, Santos was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation Wednesday.
Left-hander Garrett Crochet, who has been with the team since Monday, was returned from his rehab assignment with shoulder inflammation, taking Santos’ roster spot.
Santos’ previous high workload was 35 Triple-A innings in the Giants’ system. The Sox are not sure of the severity of the injury yet.
“He’s had a good year. And he’s got a little bit of a right elbow inflammation,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “We’ll just err on the side of caution and shut him down for the rest of the year and let the doctors continue to evaluate him.
“The reports that I got is that there’s some discomfort in the right elbow, he’s going to get evaluated and we’ll take it from there.”
Santos’ fastball averaged 99 mph for most of the season but was down slightly to 97.5 in September. He was 2-2 with a 3.39 ERA, five saves and 66 strikeouts and ranks among rookie relievers in appearances (fourth), strikeouts (strikeouts), IP (innings) and ERA (10th).
“Remember, this kid started the season and made our team,” Grifol said. “He was probably the seventh or eighth guy in the bullpen and worked his way into leverage slowly. At the beginning, he wasn’t pitching in that kind of leverage. He kept performing and performing and had a really good year, a great year.”
Crochet has appeared in 10 games with the Sox this season, posting a 3.60 ERA. He pitched four scoreless innings with one hit allowed and five strikeouts over his last four injury rehab games with Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. He was placed on the injured list on June 20.