Red Sox Announce Unexpected Willson Contreras Decision Before Yankees Game

Getty

The Red Sox announced an unexpected Willson Contreras decision before their playoff game against the Yankees, resolving uncertainty about his status.

Willson Contreras is batting third and, in an unexpected decision by manager Chad Tracy, playing first base for the Boston Red Sox tonight. For the 34-year-old, 11-year veteran, the announcement is a far more aggressive assignment than was widely expected.

The overwhelming expectation entering Tuesday had Contreras ticketed for designated hitter to spare his injured right hand the risk of playing defense, but Boston is trusting him at first base after all.

Roman Anthony takes the DH spot, meaning manager Chad Tracy is sending his best power bat into the field just three days after a rocky return. The lineup card, first posted by reporter Tyler Milliken on X, has Contreras hitting third behind Adley Rutschman, with Payton Tolle opposing Cam Schlittler in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium.

Contreras had been expected to open the series at DH, with Nick Sogard the presumed fallback at first if the hand couldn’t handle glove work. Putting Contreras at first tonight means the Red Sox believe he can throw and field, not just take a competitive swing. He finished the regular season batting .275 with a career-best 27 homers and 81 RBI, both team highs.

Contreras’s Hand Injury and Return Timeline

Contreras was hit on the right hand — the knuckle between his ring finger and pinkie — by a Jakob Junis pitch on Sept. 17 in a game against the Texas Rangers. X-rays that night showed no fracture. A CT scan afterward confirmed the same diagnosis, of inflammation and a bone bruise, nothing broken.

“Yeah, there’s no fracture or anything,” Contreras said. “At this point, still inflammation and a bone bruise.”

The injury kept Contreras out eight games and limited him to 18 plate appearances all September before Sunday’s return. He described the pain as demoralizing, saying he broke down days before the series.

“It’s frustrating, if I’m being honest,” Contreras said. “I came into my locker just tearing up because that’s what we play for.”

“My hand hurts. I mean when it hurts, it hurts,” Contreras said, as quoted by NESN. “Especially when it’s the top hand.”

Sunday brought a short trial. Contreras went 0-for-2 against the Chicago Cubs as the DH before Tracy pulled him in the fifth inning for pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones.

“He should be good to go,” Tracy said afterward. Tracy had called the looming return “huge … massive” two days earlier, adding that a hitter like Contreras can change a game “with one swing of the bat.”

This marks Contreras’ fourth separate injury absence with Boston since late August, logged in his Sportsforecaster injury history, including a left hamstring strain that sent him to Double-A Portland for a rehab assignment. He fractured the same right hand once before, on a 2024 hit-by-pitch, which is why X-rays alone did not settle his nerves this time.

Willson Contreras vs. Cam Schlittler and the Yankees

The matchup offers little comfort. Contreras is 11-for-74 with two homers and nine RBI against the Yankees in his career, according to a StatMuse career breakdown, a .149 average across 20 games and three organizations.

Against Schlittler specifically, the sample is even smaller. Contreras is 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in an Aug. 28 meeting at Yankee Stadium, per StatMuse.

Schlittler finished the regular season 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA and 239 strikeouts, and he limited Boston to a 0.74 ERA across four starts against the Red Sox this year.

Boston scored just 71 runs over its final 24 September games, the fewest in the majors. Facing Schlittler, then Max Fried in Game 2 and Gerrit Cole in Game 3, the Red Sox need the kind of one-swing damage only Contreras provides. Whether an injured hand allows him to provide it, at first base instead of DH, is the question tonight’s game will answer, at least initially.

Read More From Heavy

Red Sox Announce Surprise Garrett Crochet Decision Before Yankees Playoff Series