Red Sox

Red Sox outfielder Adam Duvall lands on injured list due to fractured wrist

Through eight games with Boston, Duvall was batting .455 with four home runs, 14 RBI and a 1.544 OPS.

The Red Sox do not have a timeline for Adam Duvall's return to the lineup. Paul Sancya / AP

April 10, 2023

The Red Sox will be without one of the hottest bats in their lineup for the foreseeable future.

After exiting Sunday’s win over the Tigers with an apparent wrist injury, the Red Sox announced Monday that Adam Duvall suffered a broken left wrist and will be placed on the 10-day injured list.

Speaking to reporters down in Tampa, Alex Cora noted that the team has not set a timeline for Duvall to return to the lineup, nor do they know if the outfielder will need surgery.

“He’s going through more testing today to see if there’s any more damage,” Cora said of Duvall, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. “Timetable, we don’t know. If there’s going to be a procedure, we don’t know yet. He’s still going for testing this afternoon and we’ll know more tonight or tomorrow.”

Duvall suffered his injury in the ninth inning of Sunday’s 4-1 victory over the Tigers. While attempting to snag a sinking fly ball off the bat of Spencer Torkelson, Duvall dove out in center and landed awkwardly on his wrist.

The 34-year-old slugger immediately removed his glove in pain, and exited the game after consulting with Boston’s training staff.

Adam Duvall leaves the game after not being able to come up with this catch

Duvall is leading the league in OPS (1.544) pic.twitter.com/2kf87LPipG
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 9, 2023

It’s a brutal blow for the 5-4 Red Sox, as Duvall has been arguably the best hitter in baseball through the first week-plus of the 2023 season.

Boston’s free-agent pick-up batted .455 (15-for-33) over his first eight games with the Sox, slugging four home runs, 14 RBI and an American-League leading 1.544 OPS.

With Duvall ruled out, the Red Sox called up Bobby Dalbec from Worcester. Dalbec has played seven games down in the Triple-A ranks this season, batting .261 with three extra-base hits and 10 strikeouts.

The Sox will need to get creative with their lineup now that Duvall is out of the equation. Rob Refsnyder will take over Duvall’s spot in center for Monday’s game against the Rays, while Raimel Tapia will also get reps in the outfield.

Kiké Hernandez — currently slotted in at shortstop in place of the injured Trevor Story — will also earn starts back in center with Duvall out. As such, Christian Arroyo, Yu Chang and even Dalbec are all candidates for games at short.

“A few weeks ago, not too many people thought it was going to be a big blow. But obviously, the guy is a good player,” Cora said, per Cotillo. “We knew when we signed him that he was going to be a good defender and that he was going to put a good at-bat. … It’s a big blow but at the same time, somebody has to step up.

“It’s still early in the season. We’ve got time to do our thing, keep playing good baseball like we did this past weekend. Somebody else has to step up. That’s the nature of the business.”