Red Sox place left-handed pitcher Patrick Sandoval on the 60-day injured list
The Red Sox officially moved left-handed pitcher Patrick Sandoval to the 60-day injured list on Saturday. The move allowed Boston to add newly signed infielder Alex Bregman to the 40-man roster.
Sandoval signed a two-year, $18.25 million deal with the Red Sox in December. He will earn $5.5 million this season and will be paid $12.75 million in 2026. The lefty underwent Tommy John surgery last June and is expecting to pitch at some point in 2025.
“We think that, in the second half, he should be able to return. Exactly what that looks like, I don’t think it would make a ton of sense to speculate on,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said to reporters after the club announced the signing in December. “By all accounts, the procedure was straightforward. He’s making a ton of progress, and we’re hopeful that he’s going to impact this team in the second half.”
Over parts of six big league seasons, Sandoval is 19-45 with a 4.01 ERA. He posted a 5.08 ERA with 81 strikeouts, 35 walks, and allowed eight homers over 79 2/3 innings this past season. The Mission Viejo, Calif., native has a career 4.01 ERA in six seasons with the Angels, with his best campaign coming in 2022, when he had a 2.91 ERA in 148 2/3 innings.
Prior to getting hurt, Sandoval ranked in the 88th percentile with a 5.1 barrel percentage, 70th percentile in hard-hit percent at 36.3%, and 68th percentile with a 45.7% roundball percentage, according to Baseball Savant.
The lefty offers a six-pitch mix that includes a changeup, slider, sinker, four-seam, curveball, and sweeper. He primarily uses his changeup (409) and slider (357) while sprinkling in his sinker and four-seamer. His command has never been great, but his fastball does sit around 93-94 mph and misses bats at an average clip.
Sandoval has been particularly dominant against left-handed hitters, where they’ve posted a career .195/.274/.324 slash line. His career numbers against righties have been less impressive, with a slash line of 195/.274/.391.
The Red Sox rotation currently projects to have newly acquired ace Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello, and Lucas Giolito. Other depth options include Cooper Criswell, Richard Fitts, Quinn Priester, and Hunter Dobbins. Sandoval is now another quality arm, once healthy, to be added to the group of pitchers the Red Sox have been building out the last year.
“Having starting pitching depth, and especially quality starting pitching depth that is potentially available in the second half when, candidly, we’ve struggled over the last couple of years there, I think it could certainly be a boost,” Breslow said. “Being able to pencil him into the rotation next year makes this an even better move for us.
“He’s not going to be able to pitch for the first half of the season, but (we) felt like it was an opportunity to bring in a left-handed starter who’s got a track record of success and recent success,” Breslow said. “We saw some opportunities to help optimize the repertoire and feel like it was a chance to think not just about the short term but the longer term as well.”
