Red Sox left-handed reliever Robby Scott undergoes elbow surgery

Boston Red Sox left-handed relief pitcher Robby Scott underwent successful elbow surgery on Wednesday and is expected to be ready for spring.

The Boston Red Sox have announced that left-handed pitcher Robby Scott underwent a left elbow arthroscopy and debridement on Wednesday at Massachusetts General Hospital. The procedure has been deemed a success and Scott is expected to be ready for spring training.

This procedure was a bit unexpected given that the Red Sox gave no indication that Scott was injured. Dave Dombrowski was asked by reporters on Wednesday if any player on the roster would need surgery this offseason, yet the president of baseball operations failed to mention the guy going under the knife that very day.

Transparency clearly isn’t a strong point of the Red Sox front office. Perhaps Dombrowski felt the surgery Scott underwent wasn’t serious enough to warrant discussion. After all, there was another newsworthy item to address yesterday that drew most of the attention during this meeting with the media. A fairly routine procedure for a relief pitcher may have slipped his mind at a time where the headlines were all focused on the departure of the team’s manager.

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Scott was left off the postseason roster but there was no indication the decision was injury related. With David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez both available out of the bullpen for the ALDS series against the Houston Astros there simply wasn’t a need for a lefty specialist.

The rookie left-hander pitched a clean 1 1/3 inning in the regular series finale against Houston and there was no word of any elbow issues following that appearance. This is presumably an ailment Scott has pitched through down the stretch this season. Not serious enough to keep him out of action but something that needed to be cleaned up once the season was over.

Scott posted a 3.79 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with 31 strikeouts and 13 walks over 35 2/3 innings of relief this season. He held left-handed hitters to a .121/.224/.303 slash line but was far less effective against right-handed bats (.246/.323/.491).

He’s best utilized as a lefty specialist, even if former manager John Farrell failed to realize that until late in the season. Scott faced at least three batters in ten of 16 appearances between July 1 and August 25. From August 30 through the end of September he never faced more than two batters in an outing and recorded one out or less in six of eight appearances.

Next: Red Sox projected 2018 arbitration salaries

Scott remains under team control until 2023 and won’t be arbitration eligible until 2020. He should be in the mix for lefty bullpen options next season.