Willson Contreras missed Tuesday’s series opener against the Phillies after a 94.2-mile-per-hour sinker from Rays starter Nick Martinez struck his left hand. The 11-year veteran was not in the lineup as the team opened the series, and Chad Tracy said the club expected the injury to be manageable.
Contreras has built a long record of taking pitches to the body and hands. He has been hit 137 times in 4,441 at-bats since entering the league in 2016, a rate of about once every week-and-a-half, and he has already been hit eight times this season. Anthony Rizzo is the only player who has been hit more than Contreras since Contreras reached the majors, a reminder that this is not a one-off bruise but part of a career-long pattern.
Tracy was blunt about what the club can control. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do to fix that,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know, don’t get hit in the hand. Maybe, like, you hit him in his big, strong body and let him get on first base.” He added that Contreras received treatment, was able to hit in the batting cage and took batting practice. “I think he’ll probably be OK,” Tracy said.
The timing mattered because the club could not afford another lineup hole with the series just beginning. Contreras’ absence came on the same day the Red Sox also had another injury update to sort through, with Roman Anthony having missed five games because of a right wrist sprain. Craig Breslow said Anthony’s imaging and evaluations were encouraging, another sign the team may get some relief soon after a stretch of uncertainty.
There was also a broader organizational shift in the background. Jason Varitek, who served as game-planning and run prevention coach this year, will be reassigned after Alex Cora was fired. Breslow said, “Tek has meant and means so much to this organization,” and added that there would be “an open invitation for him to stay in this organization for as long as he wants.” Varitek had a role in the Red Sox organization in 2012 and did not have one in 2019, underscoring how long his presence has shaped the club and how much is changing around him now.
Breslow also said of Contreras’ injury, “I don’t think there’s a ton of concern that this is going to have long-term implications,” and the club appeared to back that up by getting him treatment work immediately. The question now is less about the initial bruise than whether a hitter with a history of being crowded by pitches can keep avoiding the kind of contact that keeps sending him out of the lineup.
