I think people forget just how good Whitlock was prior to his season-altering and ultimately season-ending hip injury. Despite the constant chaos of shuffling back and forth between the bullpen and rotation, Whitlock pounded the strike zone even better than he did during his phenomenal rookie season, becoming downright robotic in his ability to throw strikes. It’s not easy to hit a guy who ranks in the 99th percentile in extension and refuses to make a bad pitch, and batters looked as flummoxed by the 6-5 right-hander as they did in 2021.
At some points last season, however, it seemed like the Red Sox management were trying to sabotage their most effective pitcher. After allowing just one run over his first 10 innings out of the bullpen, a team desperate for any effective starting pitching moved Whitlock to the rotation. Without an offseason and spring training to build himself up as a starter, the results were entirely predictable: A mediocre 4.15 ERA and a hip injury that knocked Whitlock out for over a month. Whitlock returned to the bullpen and, surprise surprise, had a 1.59 ERA over his next 11 relief appearances before running out of gas and ultimately succumbing to the same hip injury.
It’s hard to bungle the handling of a young pitcher any more than the Red Sox did with Whitlock, but there is no secret about what his role will be this year. With three new arms added to the bullpen, Whitlock will have a spot in the starting rotation this year, and a whole offseason to build himself up. Whitlock spent his minor league career as a starter, and as dominant as he has been in the bullpen, it’s been pretty clear that that is where his future lies. In fact, it was somewhat jarring to see a pitcher with such a diverse and precise pitch mix in the bullpen, and before a hip injury derailed a season, Whitlock showed an ability to navigate a lineup multiple times. His plus-plus changeup allows him to hold lefties to a .195/.215/.344 slash line, while his sinker/slider combination gives him the ability to carve up right-handers with almost equal precision.
The big question with Whitlock is whether he will handle a traditional starter’s workload. He hasn’t topped 120 innings since 2018, which was the only time in his professional career he threw even 100 innings. Since that season, Whitlock has undergone Tommy John surgery and had a serious hip injury, so it stands to reason that the Red Sox will handle him with kid gloves. Still, all the makings of a frontline pitcher are there, and if the Red Sox are in contention down the stretch, you can expect the training wheels to come off.
Stat Predictions: 10-6 3.23 ERA 148 IP 2.4 BB/9 9.1 K.9
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