Red Sox 28-Year-Old Surprisingly Considered Retirement Before Boston Deal

The Boston Red Sox made a great move ahead of the 2021 Major League Baseball season. 

Boston selected hurler Garrett Whitlock in the Rule-5 Draft and he immediately made a big impact with the Red Sox. He logged a 1.96 ERA as a rookie out of the bullpen in 2021 in 46 games. 

Whitlock has had an up-and-down stint with the Red Sox since then thanks in large part due to injuries. Last year he only was able to make four appearances. He’s in a much better place now and will be returning to the bullpen. 

One thing that is pretty shocking, though, is Whitlock shared that he considered retirement before joining Boston while speaking to Joe Castiglione, Rob Bradford, and Jackie Bradley Jr.

"Yeah, it was actually really surprising," Whitlock said. "I definitely didn't expect to get Rule-5'd and it was one of those things where I thought about hanging up the cleats just because I got married in 2019 and being a minor leaguer we weren't making much money at all. My wife was still in college so I felt like I needed to maybe hang them up and pursue a job to make sure that I could support everything."

This is pretty surprising. The Red Sox were pretty lucky to land Whitlock when they did but it’s wild how different things could have gone. Fortunately, things seem to have worked out for Whitlock and also Boston.

Boston is lucky to have Whitlock and he should a big role with the team in 2025. Hopefully, he doesn’t consider retirement again any time soon.