Tanner Houck Eyes September Return as Red Sox Pitching Depth Faces Long-Season Test

The Boston Red Sox entered this offseason with something they haven’t always had in recent years: a surplus of starting pitching. That depth has been so robust that Tanner Houck’s elbow surgery – and the long road back from it – has flown under the radar. But as spring training gets underway, Houck’s name is starting to resurface, and for good reason.

Houck, who stepped into the No. 1 starter role in 2024 after Lucas Giolito went down with a UCL injury, is now working his way back from a similar fate. He underwent Tommy John surgery after a frustrating 2025 campaign that saw him struggle through a right flexor pronator strain – an injury that took months to properly diagnose. By the time the Red Sox shut him down and placed him on the 60-day injured list on July 31, the numbers told the story: an 8.04 ERA, a 1.69 WHIP, and 10 home runs allowed in just 43.2 innings.

The injury lingered, and when pitchers and catchers reported to camp on February 10, Houck was officially returned to the 60-day IL. Still, there’s optimism. Houck is expected to begin throwing next week – a critical milestone in his recovery – and he’s reportedly targeting a September return to the mound.

That’s a big “if,” of course. The road back from UCL surgery is long and rarely linear.

Just ask Patrick Sandoval or Liam Hendriks – both of whom have taken their lumps during the recovery process. But if Houck can find his rhythm late in the year, he could be a major X-factor in a playoff push.

Let’s not forget what he looked like when he was right. In the first half of the 2024 season, Houck was electric. Over 117 innings, he posted a 2.54 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, and racked up 112 strikeouts against just 26 walks – numbers that earned him his first All-Star nod and had him looking every bit the part of a frontline starter.

The Red Sox aren’t exactly hurting for arms right now. Garrett Crochet, Ranger Suárez, Sonny Gray, Johan Oviedo, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, and Sandoval are all in the mix for rotation spots this spring. Add in top prospects Connelly Early and Payton Tolle, and Boston has a full house competing for innings.

But if we’ve learned anything from a 162-game grind, it’s that depth can vanish in a hurry. Just look back at the end of 2025, when injuries ravaged the rotation and forced the Red Sox to call up Early and Tolle for their MLB debuts. Things got so thin that José De León – a minor leaguer at the time – was tapped to make the club’s final start of the season.

That’s why Houck’s return, even in a limited September role, could be more than just a feel-good story. If he can recapture even a fraction of his pre-injury form, he could be a late-season difference-maker – the kind of arm who can swing a series or stabilize a rotation when the stakes are highest.

For now, it’s all about the next step: getting back on a mound. But keep an eye on Houck. If the Red Sox are in the thick of a playoff race come September, his return could be one of the most important developments of the season.