Red Sox’ Jason Varitek had ‘big part’ in getting Garrett Whitlock ‘right’

BALTIMORE — Red Sox game planning and run prevention coach Jason Varitek recognized that reliever Garrett Whitlock had the potential to pitch much better after a mediocre performance in Milwaukee on May 26.

“I’ve been around Whit for a long time,” Varitek said. “He wasn’t right. And if you’re healthy and you’re not right, (take a) deeper dive.”

Varitek approached the 29-year-old righty after he allowed one run on two hits and two walks in 1 ⅓ innings in a loss to the Brewers. The former catcher/team captain suggested Whitlock might have more success pitching from the first base side of the rubber instead of the third base side.

“Tek had a big part of that,” pitching coach Andrew Bailey said.

Varitek tries to stay out of the spotlight — even when players give him credit. Lefty reliever Brennan Bernardino, for example, mentioned that Varitek suggested he learn to throw a cutter entering the 2024 season but Varitek dismissed it as an idea that originated from the pitching department.

Varitek seemed surprised that both Whitlock and Bailey credited him.

“I never would have told you that,” Varitek said Thursday.

Whitlock posted a 4.63 ERA in nine outings in May. His ERA increased to 3.90 after struggling in Milwaukee. Since the adjustment, he has a 1.59 ERA, 18 holds and one save in 34 appearances (34 innings). He tossed a scoreless eighth inning in Boston’s 3-2 victory over the Orioles on Thursday.

“Things have kind of gone good since then,” Whitlock said.

Varitek remembered that Whitlock pitched from the first base side of the rubber during his sensational rookie year in 2021 when he posted a 1.96 ERA in 46 relief outings (73 ⅓ innings).

“It was just a conversation I had with Tek,” Whitlock said. “I don’t remember how he brought it up. But he’s the one that brought it up. Then I talked to AC (Alex Cora) about it.”

The question then became — why did the Red Sox initially move him to the first base side of the rubber?

“In ‘21, I started on the third base side and Bushy (then pitching coach Dave Bush) moved me over to the first base side,” Whitlock said. “I remember Tek was like, ‘Hey, do you remember when this happened?’”

Whitlock — who returned to the third base side after that season — remembered Bush suggesting it four years ago but he forgot the reason Bush thought it would help. So the Red Sox dug into some information and found the reason.

The pitching coaches and department back then thought moving to the first base side would improve Whitlock’s offspeed command. The Red Sox noticed Whitlock struggled early that season to keep his changeup and slider in the strike zone when he pitched from the third base side.

Whitlock always commanded his fastball well and he created tough angles from the third base side. But his changeup often leaked off the plate arm-side and his slider would get pulled to the glove side.

Moving to the first base side straightened out his lanes and made it easier for him to throw both pitches in the zone.

“I think looking at his miss patterns and trying to capture strikes a little bit more, it gives him a little bit more room for error and maybe some more direct lines,” Bailey explained.

Whitlock has landed 71.6% of his pitches for strikes since moving to the other side, an increase from 63.1% before Varitek’s suggestion.

“It gives him a little bit more room for error and ways to attack the zone and ability to maybe hide the ball a touch longer there,” Bailey said.

Varitek and Whitlock have been close since Boston acquired Whitlock in the Rule 5 Draft before the 2021 season. Varitek once said during the 2021 season about Whitlock, “That’s my boy.”

Varitek views it as a team effort, pointing out it’s important to go through the right channels to communicate so everyone is on the same page.

“Every day there’s pieces we talk about with different people, different guys, different ideas or suggestions,” Varitek said.