Garrett Whitlock had come a long way from his father’s Georgia goat farm. He was walking into Fenway Park.
At the time, the assuming country kid was just starting to climb the baseball ladder while playing for the Chatham Anglers in the Cape Cod League during the summer of 2016. But the idea of Fenway didn't seem like the next introduction to what might be for Whitlock but rather more of a museum field trip.
Does he even remember who was playing during that visit to the home of the Red Sox?
“I don’t,” Whitlock told WEEI.com by phone Saturday. “It was such a shock to be in the historical presence of what is Fenway. I was more just taking everything in. I feel bad to say I wasn’t watching the game. I was just in awe of Fenway.”
This was just one of the moments Whitlock will lock away if that major league dream becomes a reality in the coming months.
The work ethic learned on the farm.
The difference-making pitch and foundational mentality taught by his college pitching coach.
That day all that momentum was derailed with news Tommy John surgery was going to be part of his story.
The serendipitous meeting with J.A. Happ in the Yankees’ training room.
And, finally, the moment he heard his name called while listening to Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft.
Last thing first …
“I was caught off guard,” Whitlock said regarding the news that the Red Sox had selected him with the fourth overall pick. “It was an extreme excitement. I knew there was a possible chance but when I saw the Red Sox were who selected me it was an amazing opportunity in a great organization. I’m extremely thankful.
“It’s such a hard thing to predict. I thought there might be a chance but me coming off Tommy John and there not being a season you just never know. My strength coach just said, let’s turn it on and see what happens. When I heard the Red Sox picked me fourth overall it was just an amazing shock. 'Holy cow! Here we go. …' I was on Cloud 9, as you can imagine. Friday the strength coach was like, ‘Let’s destroy the legs a little bit.’”
In a blink of an eye Whitlock became the guy who hadn’t pitched in 1 1/2 years, or above Double-A, to a legitimate contender to make the 2021 Red Sox roster. The Sox were coming off a season (albeit an abbreviated one) where they had managed to keep Rule 5 pick Jonathan Arauz on the big-league team for the entire campaign — (Rule 5 picks have to return to their previous team if taken off the 26-man roster). So why not this pitcher?
“I think [his chances of making the team] they're legitimate,” said Red Sox director of pro scouting Gus Quattlebaum. “We are willing to take this pick knowing we're going to have to carry him the entire year. We think now that he's healthy, he'll be able to carry a real load, whether it be out of the pen or in the rotation, if need be.”
“It’s a huge opportunity,” said Whitlock, whose first call from the Red Sox came from general manager Brian O’Halloran. “It’s completely different than the original Draft. In the original Draft I got a call two rounds before (the Yankees) actually drafted me (in the 18th-round in 2017) and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to take you.’ So you’re prepared so when they say your name you’re like, ‘Hey, that’s cool. But you guys just called me so I knew it was going to happen.’ Where as here it’s complete an utter shock. They say your name and you’re like, ‘Wait, that’s actually me.’
“They told me I need to be ready to compete. That’s my mindset. This is the big leagues. No spot is given to anybody and you have to earn everything you get. My mindset going into spring training is I have to compete to be on the team, much less anything else.”
Whitlock’s head-down, work-hard mentality was born from parental lessons and those early mornings tending to the goats. (“Obviously being on the farm for a little bit, you have to put in some work. That’s for sure,” he said.) That ultimately led to a chance to pitch for the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
That paved the way for an introduction to Josh Hopper, the pitching coach who taught Whitlock the two-seam fastball he still leans on to this day, along with a pitching philosophy that has resulted in a 2.41 ERA in 42 minor-league outings (38 start).
“When I went to college, my pitching coach Josh Hopper, he instilled a mindset of, ‘Your job is to when I tell you to go out there you’re job is to get outs until I tell you you’re done getting outs for the day.’ That’s the way I have molded my pitching,” the 24-year-old pitcher said. “No matter what happens I’m out here to get outs. Whatever happens, happens. But I’m going to get outs until somebody comes out and tells me I’m done.
“The thing I focus on the most is I need to eat innings. My stuff isn’t the craziest thing you ever saw. For me I need to be a guy who is reliable. I want to go out there and every time the manager hands me the ball he hopefully knows what I’m going to get. He knows I’m going to be a bulldog and compete my butt off and he’s comfortable with that.”
It was all working out perfectly … until July 25, 2019.
It was that day Whitlock started the most painful chapter of his story, coming to grips with a membership into the Fraternal Order of Tommy John Surgery Participants.
The good news was that if there was a year to miss, it was this one. It also ultimately led some powerful life lessons, one of which came courtesy former Yankees pitcher J.A. Happ.
During one of those too-many-to-count days in the trainers room, Whitlock was presented with an unexpected conversation he will never forget.
“I wanted to soak it in, listen and learn,” he said. “I was very fortunate this past spring training before everything shut down to be around J.A. Happ and just listen to what he was talking about. I would go out and watch his sides, watching how he went about things. You have to learn the pros do it. You have to learn how the veterans do things because what they do works. That’s who you want to be like. That’s who you want to mold yourself into.
I was just coming back down from my rehab and starting throwing. He was in the training room and I was listening to what he was talking about. He was about to go out and throw a side so I asked him if I could watch him for a little bit. He said absolutely. I just watched the way he worked and did things.”
The message in a nutshell? “He said be consistent and compete your butt off.”
Not a problem.
Through what has often times been a complicated journey for Whitlock, he has landed with a simple equation. It’s not complicated for the righty: Do what you do without hesitation. And it just so happens that this time the payoff might be a very different second trip to Fenway Park.
“I’m thrilled for the opportunity,” he said. “It’s time to go to work. I get the opportunity to be around a bunch of big leaguers who have been there before. I’m excited to listen and just see all the wisdom that they have. That’s what I want to do, soak up all the wisdom from the guys who have been there. At the same time I want to keep my head down and I want to work. I have a blue collar mentality. That’s the way I was raise and that’s the way I’m going to go about it in spring training.
“I’m just a good old country boy from Georgia who likes to work. I just love baseball.”