The Boston Red Sox entered the final stretch of the 2026 season with one of the stronger bullpens in baseball, sitting second in the majors with a 3.14 ERA. That depth took a hit this week when the club shut down right-hander Justin Slaten because of recurring right elbow inflammation, via Gabrielle Star of The Boston Herald.
The 22-year-old has not appeared in a game since August 12 and now looks unlikely to return before the regular season ends.
Interim manager Chad Tracy explained that Slaten had resumed throwing and that the early sessions looked promising. The same symptoms that first sent him to the injured list then resurfaced, prompting the team to halt his program again.
Elbow trouble in a high-velocity reliever always raises concern, and the Red Sox appear determined to treat this one with caution rather than rush him back for a handful of September innings.
Slaten’s path to Fenway was anything but linear. Texas selected him in the third round of the 2019 draft out of the University of New Mexico. Four years later, the Mets took him in the Rule 5 draft and quickly flipped him to Boston for a minor-league player.
He reached the majors in 2024 and posted a 2.93 ERA across 44 appearances and 55.1 innings. This season the overall numbers were less tidy—a 4.60 ERA in 36 games—but he had settled into a useful high-leverage role. In his final 15 outings before the injury he worked to a 2.77 ERA, showing the kind of late-inning reliability the Red Sox valued.
The timing is inconvenient, yet it is not catastrophic. Two other arms are progressing toward a possible late-season contribution. Tanner Houck, who missed all of 2025 after Tommy John surgery, is scheduled to begin a minor-league rehab assignment with Double-A Portland.
Garrett Crochet, out since late April with a shoulder issue, has thrown his first bullpen and is expected to throw another soon.
Because he would need more time to build starter stamina, the club is likely to use him in relief if he returns this month. Both pitchers offer the kind of stuff that can absorb innings Slaten would have handled.
Boston’s bullpen has already proven it can function without one key piece. Still, losing a young power arm who was finding his rhythm in August is a reminder of how quickly pitching depth can evaporate.
The organization now has to balance the desire for extra September help against the longer-term health of a 22-year-old who still has years of potential ahead of him.
For now, the prudent choice is rest, even if it means Slaten watches the final weeks from the sideline.
