Red Sox: Garrett Whitlock continues to make great impression
By Steven Brown
Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock’s strong spring carries into season
Earlier in the offseason, the oft-overlooked Rule 5 Draft came and went, with many teams choosing not to make a selection. The Boston Red Sox decided to take the chance to bring a pitcher on board in the form of Garrett Whitlock.
For the second straight year, the Red Sox flirted with the idea of choosing a player with absolutely no major league playing time under his belt. Prior to the 2020 season, Boston opted to select infielder Jonathan Arauz from the Astros who is still with the team as he stuck on the roster for the entirety of the 2020 season. This time, however, a pitcher was chosen, from the Yankees of all teams.
Fast forward a few months and several evaluators are giving praise to the choice in bringing Whitlock on board for a team that was in need of impact arms. Over the course of spring training, Whitlock impressed over four appearances, allowing just one earned run, striking out 12, and refraining from giving up any free passes. Those numbers were enough for the team to decide not to return him to New York and he made the team as expected.
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To this point in the season, he has made two appearances out of the bullpen and the results have been promising. In Boston’s first series of the season, Whitlock saw his first taste of major league action in a game that saw them ultimately lose 11-3. Over 3 1/3 innings of work, the rookie allowed just three hits while striking out five. In Thursday’s game, he made yet another appearance out of the bullpen. This time, he pitched 2 innings of work while striking out three and allowing no hits.
Suffice to say, for a player who had appeared in just 16 games above Class-A ball and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019, he has been nothing short of promising to begin the season. Having a pitcher work as efficiently as he does is a blessing to the bullpen, as his quick delivery and short arm path would suggest that he can log multiple innings on short rest.
To this point in the young season, Boston has not had many bullpen games, as the starting pitching has actually been performing far better than some expected. Even so, Whitlock is still in line to see plenty of time and could eventually get opportunities to make spot starts if need be.
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The Yankees will likely regret not adding the talented Whitlock to its 40-man-roster, and even if Whitlock does regress, it’s safe to say that Boston has no intentions of returning him to the longtime rival. The potential for this year’s Rule 5 selection becoming a valuable member of the rotation by this time next year is very realistic. Getting a pitcher like Garrett Whitlock for next to nothing is the kind of transaction that will get scouts a raise.