Tanner Houck Talks Surgery Decision, Uncertain Red Sox Future

The Boston Red Sox’s starting rotation has been thinner than expected this season.

There was a time when the Red Sox seemingly had a surplus of starting pitching to the point that Boston traded Quinn Priester to the Milwaukee Brewers. But, now that depth is being tested. The Red Sox haven’t had Kutter Crawford available for a game yet this season and have lost both Hunter Dobbins and Tanner Houck.

Houck made nine appearances early this season but hasn’t started a game in the majors since May 12th. Houck recently suffered a setback in his recovery and it was reported that he is going to miss the rest of the season and undergo Tommy John surgery. 

The 2024 All-Star opened up about the decision and surgery, as transcribed by MassLive.com's Christopher Smith.

"It’s unfortunate," Houck said. "It sucks. It’s a fun team to watch. It’s a fun team to be around. And just knowing I’m not going to be a part of it for the rest of the year, it’s hard. But I know I’ll bounce back better from this...

"I know the minimum is probably around the 12-month mark, 12- to the 14-month mark. With that being said, if everything goes right, 12 months from now, plan on being back out there, running out to the mound at Fenway. But you also got to do it the smart way, the correct way. And I gotta be honest with myself. If there’s a point in this where it doesn’t feel right and I need to take a step back, it’s what we’re gonna need to do. But I’m gonna do everything in my power to get back out there at this time next year and be essentially a trade deadline piece...

"I want to pitch for another 10 years, 10-plus years. And looking at a longevity standpoint, this is just the road that we decided to take."

It's been a rough year for Houck after the best campaign of his career so far in 2024. He's just 29 years old. Houck will be back. But, this is an unfortunate update, to say the least.