Adalberto Mondesí facing live pitching, Zack Kelly could face hitters soon
Two Red Sox players on the 60-day injury list have made considerable progress in their rehabs.
The Boston Red Sox have spent the last couple of weeks cleaning out their injury list. But they might not be done yet.
Red Sox
Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that shortstop Adalberto Mondesí is progressing well in his rehab and is now facing live pitching. He’s also running and taking ground balls now, and Red Sox fans could potentially see him at Fenway Park before the end of this season.
“While the team hasn’t mapped out an exact plan for him to get into game action,” Cotillo wrote, “One source with knowledge of Mondesí’s progress said it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him in game action in a couple weeks.”
The Red Sox acquired Mondesí in a January trade that sent reliever Josh Taylor to the Kansas City Royals. He was Kansas City’s top prospect in 2015 and 2016 and the 37th best prospect in baseball in the latter year, but a plethora of injuries prevented him from reaching his potential with the Royals. The worst of these injuries was his most recent one, when he tore his ACL during an attempted pickoff play during an April 2022 game. That would be the last game Mondesí would play in Kansas City before the Royals traded him nearly a year later.
Mondesí has not played in the major leagues since tearing his ACL, and he has spent his first season as a Red Sox rehabbing from this injury in Ft. Myers. Mondesí has made little progress since starting his rehab and was even shut down in June. But recent reports indicate that Mondesí is closer to his major league return than ever before.
In addition, Cotillo reports that reliever Zack Kelly has also been progressing well in his rehab, and could face hitters as soon as next week.
The Red Sox initially placed Kelly on the 15-day injury list on April 13 due to right elbow inflammation, but transferred him to the 60-Day IL a few days later. He underwent ulnar nerve transposition revision in that elbow on May 3, and has yet to make his big-league return.
Kelly made his major league debut at the end of last season, and 2023 would have been his first full year in the majors. He had registered a 1.35 ERA in the five games he played that year before giving up two runs on the day of his injury.
Kelly told reporters in April that he hoped to return within four months after his injury, which would have been at around the time this article was written. He may not be fully ready yet, and neither is Mondesí, but their possible returns this season serve as hope to the Red Sox as they continue their playoff push.
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