BOSTON — Jordan Hicks might be activated from the 15-day injured list in the next couple of days after reaching 100.1 mph with his sinker in a scoreless inning Friday while on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester.
The Red Sox acquired Hicks from the Giants in the Rafael Devers trade. He has been on the IL with inflammation in his right big toe.
Friday was his second rehab outing.
“I haven’t talked to the group yet about it but he was throwing hard yesterday,” manager Alex Cora said. “Mechanically, he felt clean. Let’s see how he reacts to it today. Obviously the traveling and all that stuff comes into play. So we’ll know more later on.”
Cora added that the Red Sox will “see how he feels first” before deciding when to activate him.
Hicks averaged 99.3 mph with his eight sinkers in Worcester’s 4-2 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He allowed one hit and one walk while striking out two. Both strikeouts were swinging: one on a four-seam fastball and the other on a splitter.
The Red Sox transferred setup man Justin Slaten (right shoulder inflammation) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL on Saturday. He won’t be eligible to return until July 28. And so having Hicks will be a welcome addition.
“We cannot rush him (Slaten),” Cora said. “Knowing that Jordan at one point is going to be with us — you add him to (Aroldis) Chapman, (Justin) Wilson, (Garrett) Whitlock, (Greg) Weissert — it’s a good unit back there. Hopefully when Slaten’s back everybody’s healthy and we can have a dominant bullpen.”
