The Red Sox are placing right-hander on the 15-day IL due to a shoulder injury, . Southpaw will be recalled from Triple-A Worcester to take Hicks spot in Bostons bullpen. Hicks came to the Red Sox alongside , and the since-traded (for ) III in the June blockbuster sending to the Giants. The veteran righty is in the second season of a four-year, $44MM deal signed with San Francisco in the 2023-24 offseason. The Giants tried Hicks as a starter both last year and this season, but he hasnt held up in that role. The Sox have been using him in the bullpen, and the results through his first two-plus months have been nightmarish. In 18 2/3 innings with the Red Sox, Hicks has been crushed for 17 runs (8.20 ERA) on 25 Ronald Torreyes Jersey hits and a dozen walks. Hes also plunked four batters and to sed six wild pitches all while striking out a career-worst 15.5% of his opponents. Manager Alex Cora has still used Hicks in plenty of leverage spots, and the organization was surely hopeful that he could return to his prior standing as a coveted, flamethrowing setup man. Perhaps thatll still be the case down the road. The Red Sox have Hicks signed through 2027, and hell earn $12MM in each of the next two seasons. Its important for them to try to get the righty sorted out, but for the time being, hell be down for the next two weeks at the very least. This will be the eighth IL stint for Hicks since he landed on the IL in 2019 for a UCL tear and required Tommy John surgery and the third shoulder-related IL stint dating back to Aug. 2024. At various points in his career, Hicks has looked the part of a quality late-inning option with a chance to step up as one of the games elite relievers. Hes averaged better than 100 mph on his sinker in three different seasons and from 2018-21 logged a ma sive 63% ground-ball rate. Hicks has never mi sed bats as often as one would expect for someone with this type of velocity, but hes had three seasons with an ERA in the low-to-mid 3.00s and looked to have turned a corner in 2023. That season, he logged a 3.29 ERA with a career-best 28.4% strikeout rate and an 11.2% walk rate which, at the time, was also a career-best mark for a full season. Hicks parlayed that impre sive year and his uncommon youth in free agency (27 years old) into his current four-year contract. Hell have another two years to get back on track at Fenway Park, and hell still be headed into just his age-31 season when he reaches free agency for a second time after the 2027 campaign. Cole Hamels Jersey