The Boston Red Sox have agreed to an extension with right-handed reliever Garrett Whitlock, the club announced on Sunday. Whitlock's new four-year pact will cover the 2023-26 seasons and includes team options for the 2027-28 seasons. He was scheduled to qualify for free agency after the 2026 campaign, meaning the Red Sox have gained the potential to control his services for an additional two years.
Whitlock will be owed just short of $19 million over the course of the four guaranteed seasons, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com.
Whitlock, who will celebrate his 26th birthday in June, has thrown 75 innings for the Red Sox dating back to the start of last season. He's amassed a 2.02 ERA (234 ERA+) and a 5.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio over that time, all the while showing the ability to pitch beyond a single inning. Indeed, Whitlock has recorded more than three outs in 32 of his 47 appearances, including at least six outs in 19 of those games.
Whitlock threw three pitches more than 15 percent of the time last season: a 96-mph sinker, a low-80s changeup, and a mid-80s slider. The slider was his best pitch at missing bats and limiting quality of contact. Whitlock's pitches play up because of a delivery that sees him generate more than seven feet of distance from the pitching rubber to his release point. That distance helps his pitches play faster than they appear on the radar gun.
It's worth noting that the Red Sox originally acquired Whitlock by selecting him in the Rule 5 Draft from the New York Yankees organization. The Yankees left him unprotected because he had undergone Tommy John surgery that, when combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, had cost him developmental time.
