The Red Sox’s best hitter could miss the wild-card round against the Yankees.
Boston first baseman Willson Contreras’ status is in question after he was hit on the hand by a pitch last week, and he told reporters Thursday that he can’t swing a bat without pain.
“I’m working hard with the trainers; the hand is slowly getting better,” Contreras said Thursday night, per MLB.com. “But I haven’t been able to swing the last two days. I’ll be honest with the team. I know Tuesday is a really important game. It’s a really important series, and I’ll be completely honest with the team.”
Contreras, a four-time All-Star, was hit on the knuckle of his right ring finger and pinkie on Sept. 17 and hasn’t played since.
MLB.com reported that Contreras was able to swing before Boston’s mid-week series against the Guardians but couldn’t do so on Wednesday or Thursday.
Contreras is having one of the best seasons of his big league career, hitting .276/.387/.518 with 27 home runs and 81 RBIs.
“It’s frustrating, if I’m being honest,” Contreras said. “I was hoping to swing today, and I couldn’t swing. I came into my locker just tearing up because that’s what we play for. We play to play in October, and it’s really frustrating when we’re doing the best you can do and you’re expecting to heal faster and that doesn’t happen.”
Contreras said tests didn’t find a fracture, with the lingering pain instead coming from inflammation and a bone bruise.
He plans to continue treatment over the next few days, but Contreras said he won’t force the issue if his hand still doesn’t feel right.
“Hopefully, I can swing the bat tomorrow and Saturday and go from there,” he said. “But like I said, I’m an honest guy, and if I don’t feel confident in my hand to be able to play either Sunday or Tuesday, I’ll be completely honest with the team.
“I don’t want to hurt the team in any way. I know that the guys here have been playing every single day, and I respect that. If I don’t feel good, I don’t want to take anybody’s spot. That’s my point. And the whole team is playing good, even though we lost tonight. The energy is still up. The guys can’t wait for Tuesday, and I can’t wait either. But we’ll see what happens.”
Contreras isn’t the only injured star coming into the series. The Yankees are in danger of being without Aaron Judge for at least the wild-card rivalry match.
