Garrett Whitlock dazzles for Red Sox in April
The first month of the season has nearly come to an end and the Red Sox find themselves sitting atop the American League East. It hasn’t been one thing or another that has gotten them to this point but a strong mix of every facet of the game clicking. One of the breakout players so far through this point has been the recent Rule-5 Draftee, Garrett Whitlock. Boston CBO stole the young righty from the Yankees and it’s been one of the best moves of his short tenure.
We ran a poll over at the BSI Twitter page and put the power into your hands. We wanted to know who you felt stood out for the Red Sox on the mound this past month. With the four options that we had, we used Eduardo Rodriguez, Nick Pivetta, Matt Barnes, and Whitlock. All four have had amazing April’s and deserved to be in the conversation, but in a landslide, you chose the young reliever.
Standout pitcher for the month of April
— BoSox Injection (@BoSoxInjection) April 29, 2021
I was a bit surprised to see that the starters didn’t get more love from Red Sox Nation but with how dominant both Whitlock and Barnes have been up to this point I can understand it. In my recap of the series against the Mets this past week I had the Boston bullpen as one of my 3 takeaways with a highlight on Barnes and Whitlock. As much as I could talk about all four pitchers in this week’s poll we’re here to talk about Garret and that’s exactly what we’re about to do.
I don’t think anyone expected to see what we have from the righty in the early part of the regular season but he’s going out there to prove a point every night. Having gone through Tommy John already in his young career he could’ve easily been one of those guys that never get back to the promised land, but he’s there. When he got to Fenway South this spring he didn’t waste a moment in rewarding Bloom for his support.
Whitlock went 1-1 in Fort Myers but the real story of his spring training was his 1.00 ERA through 9.0IP with a 12/0 K/BB ratio. I couldn’t wait to see more of him and especially in the regular season when things actually matter and he hasn’t let anyone down. He’s appeared in six games in April and it’s safe to say we won’t see him again until May.
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Alex Cora and the Red Sox are spreading out his appearances in order to keep him away from the IL. While I understand that sentiment, I would like to see him used a bit more frequently as the year progresses. It’s pretty clear that Cora has plenty of faith in his righty reliever and is trying to make sure he’s in the equation as much as possible without hindering his future. If they can get him stretched out more by the end of the year I wouldn’t be surprised to see him vying for a rotation spot in 2022.
Before we get too far down the road we have to finish throwing praise upon him for his wild April! In his six appearances in 2021, he has yet to give up an earned run, let alone a run in general, and has a 0.00 ERA. Whitlock also owns an 18/2 K/BB ratio and has given up just a handful of hits in 13.1 innings. For a guy that’s only hitting the mound every few days, he’s making the most of his outings and is becoming one of the more reliable relievers in the Boston bullpen.
Garrett Whitlock has been an absolute steal for the Red Sox and one of Chaim Bloom’s best additions since coming to Boston. If his April is any indication of what we can expect from him then May should be even better for the right-hander. I’m excited to see what he can do as he progresses in his full return to the mound. Whether it be as a reliever or starter, that I don’t know, but I’m here for all of it.