Boston Red Sox Pitcher Garrett Whitlock Confirms Move Back to Bullpen

Garrett Whitlock seemed to be on an ace trajectory early on in 2024.

Instead, he hurt his elbow, underwent an internal brace procedure and missed the rest of the Boston Red Sox's season.

The 28-year-old right-hander is set to return to the mound in 2025, albeit in an adjusted role.

Whitlock spoke to reporters at Fenway Fest on Saturday, breaking down his recovery timeline and what's in store for him this year. When he was asked if he thought he would be in the mix for a rotation spot again, Whitlock gave a direct answer.

"Let's go back to the bullpen, baby," Whitlock said, smiling.

Garrett Whitlock addresses his role with the team in 2025:

"Let's go back to the bullpen, baby." 🤣 #RedSox pic.twitter.com/WXoVGrk8LJ
— NESN (@NESN) January 11, 2025

Whitlock was used as reliever when he first reached the big leagues back in 2021, mostly because he was still getting eased back from a 2019 Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox were required to give Whitlock some run in the majors after poaching him from the New York Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, and the bullpen was seen as the best spot for him at the time.

The righty thrived as a reliever, going 8-4 with a 1.96 ERA, 1.105 WHIP, 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings and a 2.8 WAR across 46 outings that season.

Boston played around with Whitlock's role over the next few years, although he was almost always more productive out of the bullpen.

Whitlock went 3-1 with a 2.75 ERA, 0.788 WHIP and 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings as a reliever in 2022, compared to his 1-1 record, 4.15 ERA, 1.256 WHIP and 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings as a starter. He was far from dominant in either role in 2023, but his 4.95 ERA and 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings out of the bullpen were still better than his 5.23 ERA and 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings in the rotation.

It seemed like Whitlock had finally emerged as a serious rotation piece when he went 1-0 with a 1.96 ERA and 0.9 WAR through four starts in 2024, but his injury largely wiped out that progress.

The Red Sox then made a handful of moves to bolster their rotation this winter, trading for Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet and signing veterans Walker Buehler and Patrick Sandoval. Even though Sandoval is set to miss the first half of 2025 recovering from elbow surgery of his own, Lucas Giolito is slated to make his team debut after missing all of 2024 with a torn UCL.

That leaves Boston with a rotation of Crochet, Buehler, Giolito, Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello to open the season, with swingman Kutter Crawford and eventually Sandoval in the mix as well.

Whitlock – a square peg of sorts – no longer needs to shoved into a round hole. He can move into a bullpen that struggled mightily in 2024 before losing closer Kenley Jansen and setup man Chris Martin via free agency.

"I think it was kind of a little bit of everything," Whitlock said when asked if his move was about health, fit or comfort. "It's one of those things where obviously I still have the repertoire and everything to start – if they need me to do that, I'll do that. But just talking to (Alex Cora) and everything, it's comfortable down there and it's where I've had success and everything. So it's what we think is gonna help give the team the best chance to win, so we're gonna do that."

Veteran flamethrower Aroldis Chapman signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox in December, while former All-Star closer Liam Hendriks is set to return from Tommy John surgery. Whitlock has the stuff to work as a high-leverage option, but the respective arrivals of Chapman and Hendriks – plus any other top-tier free agent additions on the horizon – could shift him into a long relief role instead.

Follow Fastball On SI on social media

Continue to follow our Fastball On SI coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

You can also follow Sam Connon on Twitter @SamConnon.