Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito is set to undergo right elbow surgery on Tuesday, a potential setback for his inaugural season with the team.
Manager Alex Cora confirmed the news to reporters on Monday, revealing that Giolito sought a second opinion from Dr. Jeffrey R. Dugas in Alabama last week.
“Lucas is having surgery tomorrow. The extent of it, we don’t know yet. We know it’s with the ligament,” Cora said. “So we’ll know more tomorrow when they go in. The type of surgery, we don’t know yet.”
Giolito, who inked a $38.5 million, two-year deal with the Red Sox, had made two spring training starts. While he threw two scoreless innings in his debut outing, discomfort in his elbow surfaced after he yielded four runs and three walks in 2 1/3 innings against Minnesota on March 1.
This marks the second major right-elbow surgery for the 29-year-old Giolito, who underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2012 shortly after being drafted as the top overall pick by the Washington Nationals in the 2012 amateur draft.
Giolito made his major league debut with Washington in 2016 and earned an All-Star nod in 2019 while playing for the Chicago White Sox. He has been a dependable presence throughout his big-league tenure, logging at least 160 innings in five of the last six seasons.
