{"id":39144,"date":"2025-03-03T08:54:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T08:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=39144"},"modified":"2025-03-03T08:54:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T08:54:51","slug":"cora-garrett-whitlock-100-percent-slated-for-opening-day-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=39144","title":{"rendered":"Cora: Garrett Whitlock \u201c100 Percent\u201d Slated For Opening Day Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<header><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mlbtraderumors.com\/files\/2024\/04\/Garrett_Whitlock_Red_Sox-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Cora: Garrett Whitlock &quot;100 Percent&quot; Slated For Opening Day Roster - MLB  Trade Rumors\" \/><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Garrett Whitlock<\/strong> underwent an internal brace procedure last May 30, which ended the right-hander\u2019s season and seemingly ensured that he would miss some time at the start of the 2025 campaign.\u00a0 However, Red Sox manager <strong>Alex Cora<\/strong> indicated that Whitlock is on pace to rather handily beat the initial recovery timeline, as Cora told MLB.com\u2019s Ian Browne and other reporters that Whitlock is \u201c<em>100 percent<\/em>\u201d going to be part of Boston\u2019s roster on Opening Day.<\/p>\n<p>Cora\u2019s statement comes before Whitlock has even pitched to live batters this spring, though Whitlock is scheduled to throw a live batting practice session tomorrow.\u00a0 The reliever has thrown multiple bullpen sessions already, in line with the deloading rehab strategy the Red Sox have used with Whitlock this offseason.\u00a0 As detailed by The Athletic\u2019s Jen McCaffrey last week, the plan saw Whitlock alternate between \u201cweeks of heavy throwing\u201d and \u201cweeks of recovery.\u201d\u00a0 This portion of Whitlock\u2019s rehab is now over, and he is expected to have a normal ramp-up for the rest of Spring Training.<\/p>\n<p>The work seems to be paying off, if Whitlock is already viewed as a lock to break camp.\u00a0 Internal brace procedures are a relatively new variant on the traditional Tommy John surgery, and can be performed in certain cases when the UCL damage isn\u2019t quite as severe.\u00a0 The benefit is that brace surgeries come with a slightly shorter timeline \u2014 whereas pitchers who get TJ procedures usually face 13-14 months of recovery, internal brace surgeries have a timeline of roughly 11-12 months.<\/p>\n<p>Because this procedure has only become more common in the last few years, there isn\u2019t yet quite such thing as a \u201cnormal\u201d timeline for a brace procedure, or at least the rehab process is more fluid than the more established recovery time associated with Tommy John surgeries.\u00a0 Still, the fact that Whitlock is on pace to return to action just 10 months after his surgery is rather eye-opening, particularly since he has a history of past elbow problems.\u00a0 Whitlock underwent a Tommy John surgery in 2019, and elbow-related issues sent him to the injured list twice during the 2023 season.<\/p>\n<p>It probably helps that Whitlock is being brought back strictly as a relief pitcher, so his arm strength doesn\u2019t have to be built up to handle a starter\u2019s workload.\u00a0 The Red Sox used Whitlock on-and-off as a starting pitcher over the last three seasons, but the right-hander\u2019s greatest success came out of the bullpen in his 2021 rookie season, when he posted a 1.96 ERA over 73 1\/3 innings as a multi-inning relief weapon.<\/p>\n<p>His production from 2022-24 was more erratic, with a 4.01 ERA over his 168 1\/3 innings during those three seasons.\u00a0 Injuries certainly hampered Whitlock\u2019s performance on the whole, but he still generally pitched better as a reliever than as a starter.\u00a0 This planned return to the bullpen might well help Whitlock stay healthy and return to his old consistent form, which would give Boston\u2019s relief corps a major boost.<\/p>\n<p>Whitlock will slot in behind closer <strong>Liam Hendriks<\/strong>, who is making his own return from a lengthy absence after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2023.\u00a0 The Red Sox also added <strong>Aroldis Chapman<\/strong> and <strong>Justin Wilson<\/strong> to reinforce a bullpen that underwhelmed last season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Red Sox reliever is set to return just 10 months after a UCL-related surgery. Visit MLB Trade Rumors for more details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":39149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1749],"class_list":["post-39144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-garrett-whitlock"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cora: Garrett Whitlock \u201c100 Percent\u201d Slated For Opening Day Roster - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=39144\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cora: Garrett Whitlock \u201c100 Percent\u201d Slated For Opening Day Roster - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Red Sox reliever is set to return just 10 months after a UCL-related surgery. 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