The Boston Red Sox’s bullpen suffered a major blow Tuesday, when the team announced that relief pitcher Carson Smith will undergo season-ending “Tommy John” surgery.
Smith, who has appeared in only three games since being acquired by Boston during the offseason, will have his right elbow surgically repaired Tuesday in New York.
Dr. David Altchek will perform the procedure to repair Smith’s torn ulnar collateral ligament at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
The Red Sox acquired the 26-year-old Smith and Roenis Elias in a December trade with Seattle. Boston dealt Jonathan Aro and Wade Miley to the Mariners.
Smith has been experiencing problems with his arm this spring and wound up pitching only 2⅔ innings, during which he gave up one run. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday after experiencing tightness.
An MRI test revealed that surgery would be needed to rectify the problem.
“I felt healthy my first outing out and felt good for the most part for the first week or so I was back up,” Smith told Ryan Hannable of WEEI Radio in Boston. “I threw against Oakland and had an extensive outing and a number of warmup pitches to go into that game, and since then there’s been small symptoms of what it was back in spring training.”
Smith, who broke into the big leagues with Seattle in 2014, owns a 3-5 career record with a 2.00 earned run average and 13 saves in 18 opportunities. He has piled up 92 strikeouts in 70 innings and has held opposing hitters to a .192 batting average.