Red Sox RHP has been diagnosed with elbow ligament injury.
Reporters, including Chris Cotillo of MassLive, were informed by Red Sox manager Alex Cora that throwing elbow ligament damage had been sustained by Garrett Whitlock. Tomorrow, the Boston right-hander will undergo additional testing to see if he can avoid surgery.
Last week, the squad and its supporters were afraid something would happen. After starting his rehab start for Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday, Whitlock complained of elbow pain. He had been sidelined since the middle of April due to an oblique issue, but he was recovering and hoped to rejoin the MLB squad soon.
On the other hand, it appears likely that his 2024 season is done. Whitlock’s 2025 campaign would be in jeopardy if he did require surgery. Throughout his career, Whitlock has previously had a Tommy John procedure. When he was pitching in the Yankees farm system in 2019, that occurred. Whitlock also missed five weeks in July and August of 2023 due to two elbow-related injured list stints. Although there was no ligament damage in either of those cases, this injury regrettably looks to be more significant.
Since his stint in the minor leagues, the 27-year-old has not completed a full season as a starting pitcher. For his first two MLB seasons, he was a great multi-inning relief weapon. Before he was placed on the disabled list in July of last year, Boston handed him ten starts. Whitlock came back and worked out of the bullpen. He was reinserted into the starting lineup by the Sox to start the season. Before the oblique injury, he only gave up four runs in eighteen and a third innings.
After Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, and Cooper Criswell, Cooper Criswell has entered the picture. After being non-tendered by the Rays, Criswell signed a $1 million contract last offseason and has quietly excelled in his first 29 1/3 innings with the Sox. With a respectable 23.3 percent strikeout rate and a tidy 5.8 percent walk rate, he has a 2.76 ERA.
Criswell, who will play tomorrow in Tampa Bay against his former squad, ought to be in the rotation for the foreseeable future. If the team is still in the running for the postseason, first-year chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and his staff may decide to focus on starting pitching around the deadline. Boston defeated the Rays this evening, 24–24, to get back to.500. They have a slim chance of challenging the Yankees and Orioles for first place in the AL East, but they are still in the running for the Wild Card.
Although Boston’s rotation has so far proven to be a surprising strength, its front five lacks depth. The only other player in the group with 30 MLB game starts in a season is Pivetta. The only other players who have reached the 130-inning mark in major league baseball are him and Bello.
One of the league’s most durable pitchers, Lucas Giolito, was signed by Boston to a two-year free agent contract in large part due to this lack of workload. Giolito had a partly torn UCL in Spring Training and was out right away. He had an internal brace treatment, and as a result, he will miss the whole season.
Whitlock is undoubtedly going to be out for a while, even if he manages to avoid surgery. When the Sox require a 40-man roster slot, they will place him on the 60-day injured list. Whitlock, who agreed to an extension back in 2022, is making $3.25 million this season. Over the next two seasons, he will receive wages of $5.25 million and $7.25 million, respectively. Boston has a $10.5 million option to hire him for the 2027 season.