Steve Pearce Suffers Injury On Rehab Assignment, Will Be Out For 'Extended Period'
BOSTON (CBS) -- The tale of Steve Pearce in 2018 was straight out of a storybook.
The tale of Steve Pearce in 2019 is a bit less glorious.
The 36-year-old journeyman started the season on the injured list due to a calf issue before being activated on April 4. He played in just 29 games before being sent back to the IL, this time with a back injury. Pearce batted just .180 with 31 strikeouts in 89 at-bats during that stretch.
Pearce was progressing on the road back to the bigs, with news coming last week that he was getting close to rejoining the big league squad. Those plans took a turn south over the weekend though, when the Red Sox received news that what was at first deemed a minor fall in a game for Triple-A Pawtucket turned out to be a lot more serious.
"He is going to be out for a while now," Dave Dombrowski said, per The Boston Globe's Alex Speier. "He's got something wrong with his knee. He's not going to need surgery. He's going to need rehab. But it's going to keep him out for an extended period. I would say probably around a month."
Pearce had been hitting just .167 with 10 strikeouts in 24 at-bats in Triple-A over seven games.
The Red Sox rank ninth in the American League this year for OPS by first basemen, which currently sits at .743. They're seventh in first basemen batting average, at .238, and 12th in on-base percentage, at .298.
All told, Pearce has been sidelined with calf, back and knee injuries, all while hitting .176 in the majors and minors combined. Pearce signed a one-year contract worth $6.25 million after earning World Series MVP honors last October. With his next appearance on a baseball field not coming until August, time is running out for Pearce to make any of that contract seem worthwhile for the Red Sox.
