When the Red Sox first acquired Adley Rutschman nobody was willing to commit to any kind of timetable until the club’s medical staff had a chance to meet the three-time All-Star and examine his injured left wrist themselves.
Wednesday afternoon Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said Rutschman had been examined and everything was looking good.
“He saw the hand specialist yesterday, at this point everything looks good from their end,” Tracy said. “It doesn’t mean anything different as of now over the next couple of days he’s going to continue with his hitting progression and he did some work in the cage today receiving balls, so we’ll keep an eye on him over the next few days and decide from there where he’s at and what the next steps will be.”
Rutschman has been on the 10-day injured list with left wrist inflammation since July 20, and prior to the blockbuster trade that saw the former face of the Orioles move to his former AL East rival, reports out of Baltimore indicated Rutschman could be nearing a rehab assignment.
Tracy wouldn’t say exactly when that could be on the table, but the plan for now is to give him a couple of days to settle in with his new club and continue his hitting progression. He noted that Rutschman is further along in his hitting program than Roman Anthony, who only recently started swinging a bat, and could be ready to take the field again soon barring any setbacks.
“He’s obviously a lot closer. He was playing after the All-Star break so for him it’s making sure that everything goes according to plan over the next few days and kind of reassess and see where he’s at and you start to decide when is the appropriate time for a rehab assignment,” Tracy said. “We’ll watch him over his next handful of days here to make sure everything keeps going the right direction, check in with him, make sure everything is feeling good and we’ll go from there.”
Prior to his injury Rutschman was in the midst of a bounce back season after a disappointing and injury plagued 2025. The 28-year-old is batting .251 with eight home runs, 47 RBI, a .764 OPS and 1.9 Wins Above Replacement over 67 games.
Extra innings
Tracy said Roman Anthony (right wrist sprain) hit again today but otherwise there’s nothing new to report with the 22-year-old outfielder or left-hander Garrett Crochet (left shoulder inflammation). … Tracy said the plan for now is to continue with the same starting rotation over the next few days, but at some point over the ongoing 16-game stretch without an off day they are considering inserting Brayan Bello as a sixth starter to give everyone else some extra rest. “We’re definitely still talking about it,” Tracy said. “Haven’t decided when or if we’re going to do it but still conversating through if we do that when is the appropriate time and right now we’re still on schedule but we’re still talking through it.” … Tracy said until Rutschman returns he anticipates Connor Wong getting the bulk of the playing time at catcher over Jake Rogers, who came over with Rutschman from Baltimore at the trade deadline.
