Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock didn’t have his best season in Massachusetts in 2023 — and he’ll be the first one to tell you that.
“I’ll be the first to say, I think I was the worst guy on the team last year,” the 27-year-old said at Red Sox Winter Weekend on Saturday, according to MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith. “So I think I need to pick it up a lot. I think AC [Alex Cora] would tell you that. I think anyone who saw me last year would tell you that. I’ve put a lot on myself to try and really step it up.”
The right-handed pitcher was mired by injuries all season. He spent 27 games on the injured list with right elbow ulnar neuritis, and was hit with another 32-game stint on the IL with an elbow bone bruise, per Smith.
Boston couldn’t decide whether they wanted Whitlock as a starter or a reliever, but the Snellville, Georgia native struggled in both roles in 2023. Whitlock posted a 5.23 ERA and 1.32 WHIP over 10 starts, and wasn’t much better in a bullpen role, pitching to a 4.95 ERA over 12 outings and 20 total innings.
But, heading into 2024, the former Chatham Angler says he is healthy.
“This is the first offseason I’ve been healthy in a while,” he explained, per Smith. “So I took advantage of it. I took one week off at the end of the season and I went straight back and got to work in the gym. I just basically wanted to do that: Build strength and build it the right way. Just kind of focus on rebuilding the right muscles, the right strength and everything like that to kind of be as healthy as I can be.”
Red Sox to start Garrett Whitlock in 2024
Whitlock also revealed last week that Boston intends to use him as a starter again in 2024.
“I was barely walking in November last year,” he asserted. “So that was a little different. So I definitely lost some strength and everything. So it’s just getting back to that point of being healthy and being strong. Health is a big thing and then just going deep into the game every single time.”
The career Red Sox pitcher also stated he hopes to consistently pitch between six or seven innings next season. And to do that, it starts with the offseason work.
“Basically making sure my shoulder is strong enough to be able to withstand everything, whatever workload comes my way. Obviously it all starts from the ground up. So really building my legs and core and everything like that to just kind of be able to handle the full 162. If you’re healthy and you can post 30, 32 times and be consistent through that, I think that’s all anyone can ask for. That’s really my goal is consistency and health this year.”
It’ll be intriguing to see if Garrett Whitlock can return to the form that earned him an $18.75 million extension in April of 2022.
More must-reads: