Red Sox option Kutter Crawford to Triple-A Worcester; James Norwood to be activated Sunday

Crawford made his second start of the season for the Sox on Saturday night. The 26-year-old allowed four earned runs on six hits and zero walks to go along with three strikeouts over four innings of work. Fifty-three of the 85 pitches he threw went for strikes as he was ultimately charged with the losing decision.

This was Crawford’s third big-league stint of the season as he was most-recently called up on June 12 to take the spot of Garrett Whitlock (right hip inflammation) in Boston’s starting rotation.

Prior to that, Crawford primarily worked out of the Red Sox’ bullpen to begin the 2022 campaign, posting an 8.44 ERA and 5.20 FIP with 14 strikeouts to eight walks across eight relief appearances spanning 10 2/3 innings pitched.

With the WooSox this season, the Florida Gulf Coast University product has pitched to a 7.43 ERA and 6.61 FIP with 11 strikeouts and three walks over four outings (three starts) and 13 1/3 innings. He is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 8 pitching prospect in Boston’s farm system.

Norwood, meanwhile, was acquired from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations on Saturday afternoon. The 28-year-old was designated for assignment last Monday after producing an 8.31 ERA — but a much more respectable 3.65 FIP — with 22 strikeouts to nine walks over 20 appearances (17 1/3 innings) with Philadelphia this season.

The Red Sox were able to add Norwood to their 40-man roster without making a corresponding move since utility man Christian Arroyo is on the COVID-19 related injured list.

That being said, Norwood is out of minor-league options, so the Sox would have to expose the hard-throwing righty to waivers if they intended on sending him to Worcester at some point.

By swapping Crawford for Norwood, Boston will keep 14 pitchers on its 26-man roster. They will, however, need to remove one pitcher from their roster when Major League Baseball’s 13-pitcher limit goes into effect on Monday.