The Boston Red Sox came into this offseason with so much pitching depth that Tanner Houck's elbow injury and Tommy John surgery have hardly come up.
The righty emerged as the Sox's No. 1 starter in 2024 after then-new signing Lucas Giolito underwent the internal brace procedure to repair damage to his UCL. Houck wasn't expected to re-take the ace role in 2025 after Boston traded for Garrett Crochet, and that ended up being a good thing.
Houck posted an 8.04 ERA, a 1.69 WHIP and gave up 10 home runs in 43.2 innings of work with the Red Sox last season. It took Boston months to diagnose his right flexor pronator strain and he was placed on the 60-day injured list on July 31.
He was swiftly returned to the 60-day IL when Red Sox pitchers and catchers reported to spring training on February 10 and he'll be there for a good while as his elbow heals. But Houck is reportedly optimistic that he could return to pitching in September, according to Gabrielle Starr of The Boston Herald.
Tanner Houck hopes to return to Red Sox by September despite recent UCL surgery and 60-day IL placement
Houck will begin throwing next week, a huge step in his recovery. While September is a long time from then, it will take all those months to work Houck up to returning to big league action — the return from UCL surgery is rarely smooth, as Patrick Sandoval and Liam Hendriks can attest.
The Red Sox are seemingly stacked with starting pitching depth as Garrett Crochet, Ranger Suárez, Sonny Gray, Johan Oviedo, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Sandoval and top prospects Connelly Early and Payton Tolle all work for rotation spots at spring training. Much can change in a 162 game season, and exhaustion and injuries could wipe Boston's depth by the end of the season. Injuries piled up at the end of the 2025 season, forcing the Red Sox to call Early and Tolle up for their MLB debuts, and minor league pitcher José De León had to make Boston's final start of the year because the rotation was so decimated.
When Houck was at his best in the first half of the 2024 season, he looked like a true ace. He logged a 2.54 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, 112 strikeouts and 26 walks over 117 innings — numbers well worth his first All-Star nomination. If Houck can find anything close to his best stuff when he's safe to return to action in September, he could be a weapon in a playoff chase and (hopefully) eventual postseason matchups.