Red Sox pitching prospect 'was really pissed off' following his forearm injury in '24
At one point last season, Red Sox pitching prospect David Sandlin was pissed off.
In early May, the right-hander felt a tug in his forearm, something he hadn’t felt before in his young career. The scary injury derailed his momentum early on, leaving him on the sidelines watching his teammates.
“I would just say pissed, I was really pissed off,” said Sandlin on “The Pesky Report” Red Sox podcast. “Actually, at that point in the season, we had the five-inning rule anyways, but it was towards actually the last, that last inning I pitched of that five-inning game, probably like third or fourth to the last pitch.
“I just felt like kind of like a tug in my forearm. And I've never felt anything like it. So that being near the elbow and everything, it scared me a lot. So I finished the inning immediately, went and grabbed the trainer, and went into the locker room. We were getting work through it. All the tests came back negative, everything for UCL, all that. We were good there. It was just the kind of tendonitis that I've dealt with several times in my career. So most of the time, I've never been held out for it.”
Sandlin felt like his preparation during the season was in line with what he was accustomed to and what the Red Sox expect from their hurlers. The 23-year-old was itching to get back on the field, feeling like the Red Sox kept him out longer than he needed.
“If you were able to ask them, I was pretty annoyed at how long they kept me out,” said Sandlin. ”I felt good, I think, after a couple of weeks, and I was begging them the whole time to let me get back.
“But they took care of me; they made sure I was healthy with the slow ramp up and everything. But it just gave me time like the off season does to really just hone in on the weight room and take care of my body, like just hone in on all my small things that goes into pitching to where like that was the most effortless below those first three, four weeks when I came back. Especially when I was throwing the shorter stints, it was just like, dang, it would kind of be fun to be a closer.
It just feels pretty cool, but it was a good time.”
In total, Sandlin made 18 starts, posting a 5.34 ERA with 82 strikeouts to 18 walks with a 1.38 WHIP over 57 1/3 innings. With the pitching depth improving and the Red Sox developing a pipeline heading into Craig Breslow’s second season as chief baseball officer, Sandlin could be in the mix as a late-season call-up for Boston in 2025.
“I can see him getting a late-season bullpen look since he'll have to be added to the 40-man (roster) next offseason anyway, but I'd think he'll be behind others in terms of starter depth for 2025,” said Alex Speier of The Boston Globe during his Baseball America chat on Monday.
Boston Red Sox prospect David Sandlin talks promotion, injury, and more ahead of his Double-A debut
Overall, Sandlin’s first full season in the Sox’ system was a learning experience and one that’ll make him better as he develops in the future.
“I mean, big learning experience,” said Sandlin. ”Obviously, if you look at the box score, just plain statistics, pretty disappointed with myself. I hold myself to a higher standard than the way I went out there and played. I know behind the scenes, working on pitches, working on the mindset of attacking hitters, like sequencing and everything. So it was a big learning curve year. I'll take that with a grain of salt. But obviously, just excited to have now a full offseason to work with the pitching development side and then all the other guys there and kind of mesh that belief system and what they want to get done rather than having to kind of rush through spring training to get through to that stuff.”
