Tanner Houck was supposed to be the No.2 starter for the Boston Red Sox this season. However, that guitar has been playing a sour tune since the start, and there has been no sign of progress.
For what it's worth for Sox fans, their top three rotation arms (Garrett Crochet, Lucas Giolito, and Brayan Bello) are all doing outstanding this season, with Crochet being a Cy Young contender as a bonus. They have a three-headed monster in that rotation, although if Tanner Houck and/or Walker Buehler were in their old form, that rotation would be even deadlier.
Houck started the season with one of the worst ERAs in baseball (8.04), then was placed on the IL with a right pronator strain. For those who don't know what a pronator strain is, they are supposed to help stabilize his elbow during his throwing motion from the forearm side of his arm. Now, those tissues are damaged due to him either overusing them entirely or just one traumatic throw. From what it seemed, and how he's been playing all season, it was a progressive injury.
Tanner Houck Suffers Unfortunate Injury Setback
Pitchers all over the league have been going down like flies since the turn of the decade. That's because the wear and tear on these pitchers' arms over the years has finally caught up to them and taken a toll. This is no different for Houck, who suffered a setback with the same injury on Saturday, per MLB.com's Ian Browne.
Could this lead to surgery? Most likely. "Many cases of forearm injuries can have an alarming relationship with UCL injuries", according to Dr. Christopher Ahmad. "Of those MLB pitchers who injured their forearm muscle, 20% of them required Tommy John surgery within one year of the muscle strain injury." This spells disaster for Houck, and there may be more damage than good to his arm.
"We unfortunately confirmed our hypothesis that flexor-pronator muscle injuries are a significant cause of disability in professional baseball... Over a 5-year period, we identified a total of 134 injuries in MLB...Most concerning is that 19.4% of injured MLB players underwent Tommy John surgery within 1 year of sustaining a forearm strain. There were also significant pitcher performance declines in the season leading to the injury, as compared with the previous season."
That last part of that quote takes the cake. All the patterns lead up to this, and while awaiting the results, it may just have to be considered.
Houck was amazing last year with a career season all around. But now, he's been a shell of himself, and people don't think there's something wrong with him. Red Sox fans are upset at his performance, but that's the wrong reaction. They should be worried about Houck. He suffered a significant decline because he was trying to push himself to be great and honor these fans. Now, we may not see him until 2027 if this is proven right in the coming days.