For the Red Sox, hard-throwing relief pitcher Justin Slaten has put up only a small handful of rough outings this season, the first of which came at the end of March when he yielded four runs without recording an out, and the other two coming at the start of May, when he gave up five runs in two games. In all, that’s nine runs in those three appearances.
In his other 21 showings, Slaten has not allowed an earned run. He has a .900 WHIP this season, and has been a reliable option.
But Slaten did give up two unearned runs in the Red Sox’s loss on Wednesday to the Brewers, and the fact that his fastball speed and strikeout rate has dipped this year is cause for concern. Slaten struck out 9.4 per nine innings last year, but that’s dropped to 6.2 per nine this year. Red Sox manager Alex Cora had hoped that giving Slaten a couple of days off after Wednesday’s struggle might rejuvenate his arm.
It didn’t. And ahead of Sunday’s game vs. the Braves, the Red Sox officially made a move on Slaten, sending him to the injured list.
Red Sox Showing Caution With Bullpen
The Red Sox, as part of a series of moves, announced they were putting Slaten on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 29. The official cause is right shoulder inflammation, though the move is mostly a precaution given Slaten’s arm fatigue.
The Red Sox recalled Luis Guerrero from Worcester to fill Slaten’s spot.
“Having a little bit of fatigue right now,” Slaten said, via MassLive. “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.”
Guerrero has allowed one run on three hits and three walks in 5.1 innings in four appearances with the Red Sox this season.
Justin Slaten Had Similar Injury Last Year
Slaten underwent a similar issue last year with the Red Sox, his first in the big leagues after Boston swiped him in the Rule 5 draft, one of personnel director Craig Breslow’s more underrated moves.
“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.”
On the whole, the Red Sox’s bullpen has gone 224.1 innings this season, fourth-most in baseball, as the starting rotation has struggled badly to register long, productive outings.
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