Boston Red Sox
Mead exited Monday’s game against the A’s after taking a fastball to the wrist while up at the plate.
Curtis Mead left his debut game with the Red Sox after getting hit on the wrist. AP Photo/Scott Marshall
New Red Sox trade acquisition Curtis Mead didn’t last very long in his debut with Boston on Monday night.
Mead — acquired from the Nationals in a one-for-one swap for Connelly Early — exited Monday’s matchup against the A’s at Sutter Health Park in the bottom of the fifth inning after getting hit by a pitch on the wrist.
The 25-year-old infielder was struck on the left wrist on an inside fastball by A’s starter Jack Perkins — with the offering catching Mead after he initially checked his swing.
Mead was clearly in discomfort after he took off his wrist guard and made his way to first base, but remained in the game for both the top and bottom of the fourth inning.
Mead did not return for the bottom of the fifth, with Anthony Seigler replacing him at second base for the remainder of the game.
After Boston’s eventual 4-2 win over the A’s, the Red Sox announced that X-rays on Mead were negative.
Still, that injury scare stands as a rough development for both the Red Sox and Mead, who is expected to add more pop to a Red Sox lineup that entered Monday tied for last in the majors with just 98 home runs on the season.
Prior to Monday’s game, Mead expressed excitement over joining a Red Sox team that has posted an 18-3 record so far in July.
“There’s a lot of challenges that come with being traded,” Mead told reporters in Sacramento, including MassLive’s Chris Smith. “And being able to draw from past experience was definitely helpful. I was able to kind of talk to some people that knew some people here in this clubhouse. And everyone just had awesome things to say about the guys here. So that definitely made it easier.”
Mead is no stranger to the harsh realities that come with life in the big leagues.
The young infielder has been traded three times in less than a year — going from the Rays to the White Sox as part of a four-player deal on July 31, 2025, before getting plucked up by the Nationals on March 28 in exchange for a catching prospect.
And, on Saturday night, Mead once again received the call that he was on the move as the Red Sox acquired him for Early.
The circumstances were different for the 25-year-old Mead on Saturday. In previous deals, Mead — a former top prospect in the Rays organization — was either a throw-in asset or the headliner of a minor deal.
But, after putting together a breakout campaign with the Nationals so far in 2026, Mead found himself involved in one of the first moves of a busy stretch of transactions ahead of the August 3 trade deadline.
It’s a gamble that the Red Sox deemed worth taking, especially given the production that Mead has put forth so far this season.
After batting .238 with five home runs and 31 RBI from 2023-25 (152 total games), Mead seemingly put it all together with the Nationals. Entering Mead’s debut with the Red Sox on Monday night in Sacramento, the talented infielder was batting .256 with 17 home runs, 48 RBI and an .852 OPS over 87 games.
“I obviously was reasonably disappointed with the short kind of stints that I’d got in the big leagues and how they went,” Mead told reporters, including MassLive’s Chris Smith on Monday ahead of Boston’s game against the A’s. “But my belief, I guess, never really wavered. And I felt like if I got the opportunity to play more regularly, that my performance would be a little bit more consistent.
“And so it’s kind of been cool to get that opportunity in Washington and make the most of it and then ultimately end up in a place like this.”
Now, the Red Sox will have to hold out hope that their new bat isn’t going to miss any time before his tenure in Boston can begin in earnest.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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