The Boston Red Sox are surging as the calendar turns to August this season, but they got some devastating news on one of their best pitchers on Saturday. Starter Tanner Houck, a consistent force in the rotation for Alex Cora and company, needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of this season and potentially all of next season.
While this news is certainly a downer for both Houck and the Red Sox, the right-hander is taking it in stride and is ready to attack his rehab in an attempt to get back on the mound as soon as possible and have a long career.
“Look at what they’ve done this year, it’s incredible,” Houck said, referencing teammates Garrett Whitlock and Lucas Giolito who have both recovered from Tommy John, via Christopher Smith of MassLive. “So it’s just about trusting day to day work. It’s gonna be long, it’s gonna be hard, but I’m ready for it. I’ve made peace with it myself. Had a lot of long conversations with my wife — early mornings, late nights talking about it.”
Houck has been on the injured list since May and has been trying to come back with rehab starts in the Minor Leagues, but as his discomfort increased he eventually found that this was the best solution for his injury. He struggled mightily in nine starts this season, logging an 8.04 ERA and losing all three of his decisions.
“Flexor was torn a good bit,” Houck said, per Smith. “But just didn’t feel right throwing, didn’t feel normal kind of the way that I operate at a high whippy volume. Just never really felt like it got back to normal.”
When Houck gets back from his injury, he will be hoping to get back to his 2024 form where he was named to the All-Star Game for the first time in his career. During that campaign, Houck notched a very stout 3.12 ERA in 30 starts and struck out 154 batters, so he clearly has the talent to be a high-level starter when he is healthy.
Houck is also still just 29 years old, so he can have a long career ahead of him if his elbow problems subside following this procedure. That is the goal, and all indications are that he is handling it the right way despite the unfortunate situation.
