Following his lengthy five-month absence on the injury list, Garrett Crochet is finally returning and is on the wild-card roster for the Boston Red Sox. 

He has not pitched since April 25 due to left shoulder inflammation as well as a low-grade lat strain. Nevertheless, he is ready to contribute and will pitch out of the bullpen rather than as a starter. This should help with easing him back into pitching by taking on a lower-leverage role. 

The Red Sox begin a critical AL wild-card series against the New York Yankees on Tuesday, with Cam Schlittler up against left-handed rookie Payton Tolle. Crochet will be active for the game, and he joins six other southpaws on the Red Sox's roster, giving them plenty of options to work with. 

But the Yankees were the seventh-best offense against left-handed pitchers this season. It will be interesting to see how Crochet will handle the Yankees without Aaron Judge, but they will have Giancarlo Stanton, who will hit off the bench as a pinch-hitter. In Stanton's career against Crochet, he is 2-for-7 with a home run and an RBI. 

The impact Garrett Crochet will provide for the Red Sox out of the bullpen

Crochet will provide the Red Sox with a high-upside left-handed weapon out of the bullpen. He also carries a mid-90s velocity and will join elite arms such as Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock to help bolster the team's bullpen depth. 

However, since Crochet has been absent for months, whether his command will be sharp or rusty remains to be seen. This is why he will be restricted to a short-relief role. 

But pitching out of the bullpen will be nothing out of the ordinary for Crochet, who from 2020 to 2023 pitched as a reliever for the Chicago White Sox. 

He recorded a strong 2.71 ERA and 85 strikeouts across 73 innings with Chicago before transitioning to a starter. While it's a small sample size, he has allowed one run across four hits with 11 strikeouts across 7 2/3 innings in his postseason career against the Yankees.