Red Sox' Justin Slaten describes shoulder injury, gives timeline for return
ATLANTA — The Red Sox bullpen took another hit Sunday, but the team is hopeful Justin Slaten's shoulder injury won't be a long-term thing.
Boston placed Slaten on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 29, with right shoulder inflammation and recalled Luis Guerrero from the WooSox to take his place. Slaten hasn't pitched since Wednesday in Milwaukee. He described his IL stint, which can expire as soon as May 13, as precautionary.
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'Having a little bit of fatigue right now,' Slaten said. 'Don't think it's anything super serious but had some stuff nagging for a little bit now and it caught up to me that last little bit in Milwaukee. It's just a matter of getting ahead of it, taking care of it before something major could happen.'
Slaten felt tiredness in his shoulder at different points in the last week and took notice of his velocity dropping in his outing Wednesday. His fastball, which has averaged 97 mph this year, was at 95.6 mph. The Red Sox were hopeful two days of rest would help him rebound, but the issue didn't abate.
'He has been grinding through it,' said manager Alex Cora. 'We gave him two days and yesterday he tried to play catch. He wasn't responding well and we have to protect him. Hopefully, something that he can come back right on time when the days are done. But obviously, we're gonna miss him.'
As a rookie in 2024, Slaten missed more than a month in July and August with a forearm/elbow issue that he tried to pitch through. This time, he alerted team trainers to his shoulder soreness early in the process, allowing the club to get its arms around how to attack it. Slaten did not have an MRI.
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'Last year, I had some similar stuff where something had popped up but I didn't feel like it was necessarily affecting the performance,' Slaten said. 'It was more of a management thing. Eventually, it caught up and bit me in the ass so I think this is a matter of the same thing.
'Last year, I ended up missing a little over a month when we didn't think it was that serious. I think we're pretty confident this 15-day stint on the IL will give it plenty of time to calm down and I'll be fine.'
With Boston's rotaton scuffling, Cora went to his bullpen early and often throughout May. Slaten, the primary setup man for closer Aroldis Chapman, pitched 13 innings over 12 games in the month, last pitching on back-to-back days Tuesday and Wednesday in losses to the Brewers. With Slaten and veteran Liam Hendriks (hernia-related issues) both now on the IL and Guerrero and Nick Burdi both called up, the group looks different than it did a week ago. Cora identified lefty Justin Wilson and righties Greg Weissert and Garrett Whitlock as eighth-inning options in Slaten's absence.
Slaten has pitched well for Boston outside of a couple blow-up outings. He owns a 3.47 ERA (and 3.17 FIP) while striking out 16 batters in 23 ⅓ innings over 24 games. He had a string of 10 straight scoreless appearances dating back to May 4.
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