Garrett Whitlock dominated the bullpen scene in his rookie season back in 2021, and now he is set to return to the same spot with the hopes of revamping his career – getting back in the aftermath of his recent surgery that abruptly ended his 2024 season with the Red Sox. Now he has the best chance to ease in and get back on his impressive form.

Whitlock has been on the bulk of many trade rumors for the Red Sox this offseason, and yet he’s simply shrugging them all off – knowing that he can actually make the most of his chances to prove that Boston is really right about keeping him and waiting him to return to his form.

Three years into the league, Whitlock seemed to be quite a promising player to look out for the Red Sox. However, an injury in 2024 derailed his rise to stardom, and the Georgia native didn’t exactly manage to make his presence felt before sitting out the rest of the season, which didn’t see Boston make a promising splash.

Whitlock Back to the ‘Pen

Months of discussion among Boston’s brass have already hinted that Whitlock would be making his return to the bullpen. Now that it’s official, the pitcher is more than overjoyed to have his chance in proving his worth once more. Whitlock was full of enthusiasm when he said that he now turns his attention to the 162 (games) and focus on his return to the bullpen.

“I think it was just kind of a little bit of everything. It's one of those things where, obviously, I still have the repertoire and everything to start, and if they need me to do that, I'll do that,” Whitlock said. “But just talking to [manager 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 going to help give the team the best chance to win. So we're going to do that.”

In his rookie season back in 2021, Whitlock pitched in 46 games, all as a reliever, and had a 1.96 ERA. The Red Sox made a deep postseason run, and Whitlock was a key part of it – all while coming off a Tommy John surgery. Now that he’s returning from an injury, can he actually make the most of his chances once more?

A Spark for the Red Sox

Believe it or not, Whitlock was already impressing well in his four games in 2024. Whitlock made 4 starts for Boston, recording a 1.96 ERA with 17 strikeouts across 18 ⅓ innings pitched – before ultimately undergoing an internal brace procedure to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

“It’s huge,” said Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey. “He’s a guy that you can hand the ball off to and have him go a couple of innings late in the game and give the back end guys a rest. He’s a multi-inning force back there. Gives us another way to finish games. Not only your typical multi-inning guy cleaning up some down games or some big games, he’s a guy that can throw multiple innings in close games as well which gives AC a different way to finish ballgames, which is really valuable for us.”

Whitlock is a team player, and he doesn’t really care much as to how he will be used – but is eager to see how well he can impact the team by thriving in the bullpen – which is something that he has already done in the past.