The Red Sox announced that right-hander Garrett Whitlock has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 25th, with left knee inflammation. Left-hander Tyler Samaniego was recalled to take his spot on the roster.
It’s unclear how much time Whitlock will miss but it’s an unfortunate blow to the Sox. Whitlock has been one of their better leverage arms recently. He racked up 24 holds and a save last year. He has already added another nine holds this season. Combining the 2025 and 2026 campaigns, he has thrown 91 2/3 innings with a 2.45 earned run average. His 8% walk rate and 43.4% ground ball rate in that time are pretty close to par while his 31% strikeout rate is well above average.
The injury is also frustrating due to the way it happened. The Sox and Twins were playing through some rain on Sunday and Whitlock slipped on a wet mound, causing some knee soreness. It seems Whitlock and the club spent the past few days monitoring the knee before deciding to put him on the shelf. Since he hasn’t pitched since then, they have backdated the IL placement by the three-day maximum. If Whitlock’s knee feels better quickly, he could be back in less than two weeks.
The Sox have Aroldis Chapman in the closer role but other arms will have to step in to take over Whitlock’s leverage innings while he’s out. Justin Slaten and Greg Weissert could be some of the options there. Weissert has a 3.80 ERA in 21 1/3 innings for the Sox this year. His 22.3% strikeout rate is around par but his 7.4% walk rate and 46.9% ground ball rate are a few ticks better than average. Slaten spent time on the IL and only has 8 2/3 innings pitched on the year with a 4.15 ERA but a huge 32.4% strikeout rate.
Ideally, Whitlock’s absence will be minimal but any setback for the club looms large at the moment. The Sox are out to a rough 23-31 start, putting them only three games up on the last-place Angels in the American League standings. What is working in Boston’s favor is that many other A.L. clubs are also scuffling, so Boston is only three games back of a Wild Card spot.
Photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford, Imagn Images
Brutal. Just continues to be a season where pretty much anything that could go wrong does. Can’t wait to see Weissert in more leverage situations /s
Not great for a Red Sox team looking to claw back. Where’s Fever Pitch Guy to give me an optimistic outlook?
Yes, agreed. I can’t mute him because he’s so often very nice with me and cordial goes a long way, but wow, his comments here can be so infuriating.
Sometimes You just wanna crawl through the phone and ask the dude, what’s up with your horribly inaccurate statements?
Weissert to the 7th and Slaten to the 8th til Whitlock returns. Yet another storm for the Sox to weather
I hope they don’t give his spot to Weissert – I don’t trust him
I was wondering why they pitched that minor league call up guy late in the game with a lead. This explains it. Just horrible.
He’s apparently not here, but I am. Do you seriously think the Red Sox are going to be able to claw back. I think the Jays are a better team but doubt that even they can catch the Rays or Yankees , or even surpasse the Orioles.