Kutter Crawford Positioned to be Red Sox Unsung Hero in 2026

Lost in the Boston Red Sox offseason pitching overhaul is 29-year-old right-hander Kutter Crawford. The former 16th-round pick missed all of the 2025 campaign with various injuries, making him something of the forgotten child.

In 2024, it was a tale of two halves for him. Entering the All-Star break, he had a 3.00 ERA with a 3.77 FIP and 112 strikeouts in 114 innings. After that, he became severely homer prone. In 13 starts, 69.2 innings, he gave up 20 home runs culminating in a second-half ERA of 6.59.

It wasn’t the first time Crawford’s entered an offseason with questions of his role with the team. You could argue 2025 was something of a make-or-break campaign for him; it broke.

But Crawford is positioned to be this team’s unsung hero in 2026. Even if his pathway to being a starter is potentially roadblocked, he’ll still have opportunities to thrive for the Red Sox.

How so?

But First, What Went Wrong?

To properly understand how Crawford can rebound from a year-and-a-half of disappointment, we must first understand why it might’ve occurred.

When he reported to Fort Myers last February, reports came out he dealt with a knee injury almost all of 2024. Part of learning it existed was learning it still was a problem. He believed he’d recover with rest and rehab but suffered a setback that doomed the start of his 2025 season.

Then, while recovering, he suffered a wrist injury that required season-ending surgery.

Through his first three outings in 2024, before he first felt discomfort in his right patellar, he allowed one earned run in 15.2 innings. His command came and went — eight walks — but just seven hits and 18 strikeouts. He was awesome.

Obviously, it’s impossible to sustain a 0.57 ERA over a full 162-game season. So, while Crawford’s run prevention dipped in his final 17 first half starts, he still pitched to a 3.39 ERA across 98.1 innings. He rolled into the Break with one earned over his final 21.1 innings.

Then, disaster struck.

His fastball just wasn’t the same as it was in 2023. From a Run Value standpoint, it dropped from 13 (91st percentile) to one (50th percentile). His four-seam went from +10 to -4. The right-hander’s secondaries did better, but it’s hard to sustain success when your most-used pitches regress from elite to merely mortal.

His velocity dipped a full mile on average from 2023 to 2024 as well. Perhaps a byproduct of pitching through discomfort in his drive leg? That much isn’t certain, and we have no way of knowing if it was a mirage because he didn’t pitch in 2025, but there’s potential correlation.

What Makes Crawford Effective?

The velocity dip certainly didn’t help in 2024, but it was never an overpowering heater to begin with. Additionally, he’s not an elite-grade extension guy; 28th percentile in 2023, 19th in 2024. So, how’d he hold hitters to a .163 average against his four-seam in 2023?

His delivery is short-arm style. Similar to former teammate and fellow right-handed veteran Lucas Giolito.

The obvious benefit to this delivery is it helps him hide the ball for longer, especially against left-handed hitters. It’s not everything, but when you don’t throw hard or get great extension, you need an alternative way to be deceptive. Hiding the ball helps keep a hitter guessing for longer, even if tendencies suggest an overwhelming likelihood of a fastball.

To that point, in 2024, he was almost equally likely to throw the four-seam as the cutter. In fact, he only threw his four-seamer 47 more times overall; 25 against righties, 22 against lefties.

His secondaries were more predictable, but not knowing if his four-seam, with elite induced vertical break, or his cutter, with plus movement vertically and horizontally, was coming kept hitters off balance.

Crawford’s secondaries also, in general, were great in 2024. His splitter generated a 40.4% whiff rate, and 41.3% of plate appearances ending with a splitter were strikeouts. It was truly a plus offering in 2024, especially against left-handers, as was his knuckle curve.

His sweeper kept righties at bay, as well. Opponents overall hit .143 against it, but 411 of his 522 offerings were against same-handed hitters.

The framework is there for him to be an uber-effective arm in 2026.

The Ideal Role

As mentioned, the pathway to the rotation for Crawford is unclear. The only remaining member of the 2024 staff still in Boston going into 2026 is right-hander Brayan Bello.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the 2024 rotation versus the 2026 projected Opening Day staff:

The result of this overall leaves Crawford, who led the team with 33 starts in 2024, potentially ousted from the rotation entirely.

However, maybe that’s a good thing?

His best season as an MLB pitcher came in 2023. Still primarily a starter, Crawford spent much of the first half as a multi-inning reliever. Across his eight relief outings, he posted a 1.66 ERA across eights outs (on average) per outing.

After a few rough starts upon re-entering the rotation, he went on a 12-start stretch with a 3.28 ERA and nearly one strikeout per inning. As a byproduct of a high fly-ball profile, he was still homer prone. But Crawford managed just 64 walks-plus-hits across 60.1 innings in that stretch.

As a swingman, the right-hander remains stretched out enough to provide spot-starts or return to the rotation in the event of injury. Keeping his outings to primarily a multi-inning relief capacity allows him to maximize his stuff and get the best out of his arsenal.

The pitch that stands to benefit the most? His fastball.

Between injury and volume, his fastball saw a 92-point batting average decline. Slugging percentage against his fastball went from .326 in 2023 to .500 in 2024. Getting the most out of Crawford starts with getting the most out of his fastball.

What Makes Him a Potential Unsung Hero?

The Red Sox overhauling their rotation gives them one of the best in all of MLB on paper. Where they lack, at least on paper, is the bullpen. Sure, they’ve got a two-headed monster at the back end between Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock. However, their top “other guy” is right-hander Justin Slaten.

The latter is immensely talented, but has dealt with injury issues both seasons of his MLB career, Additionally, he dealt with issues missing bats in 2025.

For the Red Sox to win games, especially with an awkward looking lineup, they need to be on their game preventing runs at an elite level. Bridging games from starter-to-Whitlock-to-Chapman is paramount.

Crawford being able to provide multiple high-quality innings helps bridge that gap immensely and also softens the physical burden on guys like Greg Weissert, who made 72 appearances in 2025. Not just Weissert, but also in the projected Opening Day bullpen is right-handers Zack Kelly (career 4.15 ERA as a part-time player) and Ryan Watson (Rule 5 draft pick), and left-hander Jovani Moran (two MLB outings since 2023).

Crawford may not be a starter in 2026, but it’s clear how important his performance is to the health of the pitching staff. Him pitching well is critical, and the swingman’s role gives him a pathway to 100-plus innings on a good staff this year.