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4:56 p.m .: Boston officially placed Whitlock on the IL, retroactive to September 20. He will first be eligible to return next Thursday. Ryan brasier was recalled to take his place on the active list. In addition, Boston reinstated the infielder. Christian Arroyo from the list of injured COVID-19. Utility Jack Lopez was removed from active rosters and 40 players and returned to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding move. López had been selected as a COVID replacement, so he didn’t need to be exposed to waivers to be eliminated from the 40 men.
3:44 p.m .: The Red Sox place a reliever Garrett whitlock on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right pectoral, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Cora stressed that the club did not consider the injury too serious but wanted to be careful not to make the problem worse. He was not ruling out the possibility that Whitlock would return after a minimum ten day absence.
Even if Whitlock is able to make it by the middle of next week, his loss will still be a blow to a Boston team in a hotly contested Wild Card race. The Red Sox come into play tonight with a game and a half over the Blue Jays for the top spot of the American League Wild Cards. The Yankees are only half a game behind Toronto for last place in the league playoffs, and the A’s and Mariners are still within their grasp.
Whitlock has arguably been Boston’s best reliever this year, an incredibly fantastic result for a Rule 5 rookie. Snatched from the Yankees’ system last winter, the right-hander pitched 72 1/3 innings of 1.99 ERA balls. in 45 appearances. He’s had a bit of luck to post such a strong race prevention rating – especially when it comes to stranded grassroots runners – but there’s no doubt Whitlock has had a solid year. He has above-average batting (26.8%), walking (5.8%), sol-ball (49.5%) and swinging (12.8%) rates.
Unsurprisingly, this solid and continuous work has seen Whitlock gain more important opportunities as the season progresses. Having deployed it primarily in mop-up situations at the start of the year, Cora has increasingly relied on Whitlock in higher leverage states of play over the past couple of months. The 25-year-old continued to perform well in these key locations, keeping his opponents at a 0.151 / .220 / .283 line on 59 plate appearances deemed “high leverage” by FanGraphs. With Whitlock downstairs, Hansel robles, Matt barnes and the resurrection Garret richards seem most likely to take on the most important innings late in the game.
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